The Fox's Kit
by SuperNeos2
Summary: Naruto didn't know the first thing about kids or parenting, not having any parents all his life. So when he takes a baby that he found in the woods home with him, can Naruto become a responsible parent or will it be too much for him? Starts after The Bell Test. NaruSaku
1. Discovery

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **I was thinking about this for awhile, roughly a few months, but never decided to go anywhere with this until my friend told me to write it and see what others think. So here I am typing the first of, hopefully, many chapters of Naruto finding a baby alone and raising it as his own, which should be interesting as he didn't grow up with parents, which is where the idea came from.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 1- Discovery

Naruto was bored. He had passed Kakashi-sensei's test and had finally became an official ninja with his teammates Sasuke and Sakura. After getting free from the stump that they had cruelly left him tied too, having to bite his way out, he now had nothing to do for the day. He supposed he could've asked his teammates if they wanted to hang-out or something, but Sasuke wasn't exactly fun to be around and Sakura wouldn't go anywhere with him unless Sasuke was around. That left him bored for the rest of the day tomorrow until he started his official duties as a member of Team 7.

Walking out of the training grounds with his hands tucked into his pockets, he scoured the area around him for signs of anything for him to do. People were busy doing their own thing from what he can see. No one would have the time to spend with him, mostly due to him not having many, if any, friends. Sasuke and Sakura couldn't really count as friends right now. They were just teammates for now until he can get them to like him, which by the way both feel about him, would take a very long time to do.

Sighing after a second of looking, Naruto jumped to the rooftops and started hopping his way on over to Ichiraku Ramen for some food. If he couldn't spend the day with anyone, he might as well chow down on some delicious ramen. He would go and ask Iruka-sensei if he wanted to join him, but the man mentioned that he would be gone at a meeting for most of the day. Naruto didn't know what the meeting was about and quite frankly couldn't care less about it. Landing swiftly on the ground by his favorite restaurant, his eyes widened when he it.

A sign read 'Closed for the day due to sickness.'

"Come on!" Naruto pulled his hair, running around in circles in front of the restaurant; making a big scene for those that passed by. "Why is everything against me today?" he ran around the exterior of the ramen stand, hoping to look for a back way in or some kind of entrance that he can use to get inside. He would take some ramen and leave the money inside where Teuchi can see; he didn't care, he just wanted some ramen.

Dropping down in defeat, he lowered his head to the ground. Scratch what he said before about having nothing to do. Right now, as he finished his little show for passing civilians, this was the moment when he realized that he had nothing to do, and now no place to go and eat. Today was just handing him a bunch of cruel things for him to deal with, the only positive being that he finally became a ninja.

He let out an exhale, "Now what do I do? I can try and catch up with Sasuke or Sakura and just ask if they want to hang." He shrugged, "Not like there's anything to do now." He jumped back onto the roofs again, keeping his sapphire eyes on the look-out for any one, or both, of his teammates. Sakura would still be trying to convince Sasuke to go out with her and the Uchiha would be rejecting her or scoffing his annoyance, and that was only if they were still within ten feet of each other.

Stopping on one rooftop to overview his surroundings, Naruto did in fact spot the Uchiha and his crush, doing exactly what he was just reminiscing about.

Sasuke was scoffing in annoyance while the pink-head asked him out. Naruto could faintly point out the twitch that Sasuke's eyebrow did each time that Sakura repeated herself to him about why she thought he was the best. If Naruto didn't like Sakura, this would be totally funny and amusing to watch. It kinda already was.

Seeing that Sasuke was close to opening his mouth and saying mean and hurtful things to Sakura that'll no doubt crush her, Naruto decided to make his move and descend from the rooftop, landing a few paces to Sasuke's left.

Said Uchiha turned to look at him, "How long have you been there?" he asked, not having sensed or noticed Naruto's presence due to Sakura hounding at him like if he was the best thing in the world since sliced bread.

Sakura stopped her so call flirting to stare at Naruto. "Have you been spying on us?" she shrieked, feeling rather annoyed that Naruto showed up just when she was about to get Sasuke to accept her date offer.

Naruto shook his head and held his hands up in defense, knowing where this'll lead if he doesn't say something. "No!" he assured the narrow eyed angry Sakura. "I was just trying to find you guys. Ichiraku Ramen is closed and I have nothing to do."

Sasuke blinked, "You just found that out?" he sounded honestly confused at the news, feeling like Naruto of all people would be the one to keep tabs on all of Ichiraku's news. Sasuke knew and he didn't even go there all that much.

Naruto turned dangerously slow over to the Uchiha, his eyes glaring at his confused ones. "You knew and didn't think to tell me!?" he would've made a move to try and pummel him, but didn't want Sakura to come after him for doing so. How would he get her to like him if he kept making her mad?

Sasuke shrugged, "I passed by this morning on the way over to the bell test. I figured someone who enjoys their food as much as you do would've known beforehand."

Naruto lowered his glare, seeing that Sasuke did indeed have some points. Not a lot that didn't make him wanna attack him for keeping it to himself like he did everything else, but he was right in certain spots. "Anyway…" he still kept one eye glared at Sasuke, "Any chance you two wanna maybe hang-out together? Grow a stronger bond as teammates?"

"No." Sasuke said as soon as Naruto finished asking his first question. Now that he was on the path to becoming a top-ranked ninja, he needed to put more effort into his training to kill Itachi. While he could tolerate Naruto, there was only so much that he can handle in one day. Seeing him get his ass poked by Kakashi and his whining while tied to the stump was his limit for the day.

"Fine," Naruto rolled his eyes at him before grinning towards Sakura. "Guess that leaves you and me Sakura-cha-"

"No."

"Oh, come on!" Naruto pouted. "Why not?" he honestly wanted to know why his teammates, who would be helping him on missions, didn't want to spend any time with him. He would get it if it was before the bell test; they would have a choice to be with him, but now they didn't. They were stuck with him unless something happened that jeopardized the team. Wouldn't spending time increase their bond and wouldn't that bond help them complete missions? If they didn't want to be with him just for him, they can at least suck it up and do it for that.

Sasuke sighed, "I have training to do to help me get closer to completing my ambition to destroy a certain man." He darkened at his mention of Itachi, "If you're bored, go and train; make sure that you don't drag us down on our missions." And with his parting words, Sasuke jumped away towards the Uchiha compound to relish in his private training.

Naruto felt hurt at Sasuke's words, but didn't let it get to him that much. All Sasuke knew how to do was insult people and put them down; this time wasn't any different. He and Sasuke used to be cool at one point. What happened to that? Were they still like that but just didn't know? Sasuke was the only one that could possibly understand what Naruto felt like, what with being an orphan and all; so Naruto naturally wanted them to be friends. Too bad Sasuke didn't seem to want the same, or if he did, hid it extremely well. He looked to Sakura to wait for her input, not surprised when she started yelling.

"Now Sasuke is leaving! Thanks a lot, Naruto!" she sarcastically thanked the blonde before going to try and find her raven-haired crush.

Naruto knew better than to go and chase after them. They already made it clear that they didn't want to spend any time with him willingly. Oh well, he thought, maybe they'll one day come around to him but until that day, he would have to settle with being alone; which he really didn't care about anymore. After twelve years of that, it just kinda grows numb on you. Taking Sasuke's advice just for the fact that there wasn't anything else to do, Naruto turned and headed out into the woods to train in solitude, hoping that he could get a little bit stronger in this day.

…

Naruto was punching the bark of a tree within Konoha's forest, moving in an easy left-hand right-hand pattern, counting off the number of times that each hand collided with the wood. He's been standing here and training for a few hours now, the sky starting to turn orange; nightfall arriving soon. Naruto would need to get back to the village soon before someone discovered he was missing. Not that anyone would care in the slightest but he could get in trouble with Old Man Hokage, and Naruto looked up to him too much to get on the bad side of the man. Reaching a satisfying number of three-hundred punches each, Naruto stopped to see that he broke off pieces of the bark, the wood lying chipped away by his feet.

He took a deep breath to relax himself after moving around a lot for the past few hours. Shaking his sun-kissed blonde head to wipe off the sweat, Naruto started his walk back to the village. He wondered what kind of missions he'll be doing tomorrow. Probably really big and important missions, like protecting someone important, or fighting off squads of rouge ninja. He grinned in excitement; the ideas of possible missions would no doubt keep him awake tonight.

Ducking under a small branch in his path, he missed the small bundle that was behind him. It wasn't until he heard the coo that he stopped mid-step, his right foot dangling in the air above the stick he was about to step on, and slowly turned his head back towards the way he came. When he didn't see anything, he turned his head back to keep going; thinking that he just heard things.

"Stupid birds," Naruto cursed, starting his walk once again. When he heard a goo-goo-gah-gah, he turned one-eight faster than the eye could see him. Looking around quickly, he found his eyes landing and focusing on the basket set up by the tree, his face starting to pale and his legs getting weak.

A baby was wiggling around in the basket.

"Is that a baby?" he pointed to the bundle. "Holy shit, it is a baby!" he looked around once again, "Hey! Someone left their baby over here! I think it wants its parents!" he called for any sign of the child's parents. All he got in response was the chirping of birds and leaves shaking as he moved around in his spot. "Hello?" he grew concerned when he didn't hear a response. He turned from the woods to the baby, who was still shaking in the basket. "Hey, can you talk?"

The baby cooed in response.

"Guess that's a no then," he sighed. "Do you know where you're parents are?" he slapped himself when the kid cooed. "Why would I ask that if it can't talk?" he walked closer, bending down over the kid, who Naruto just realized had black hair. "Can you point me in the direction in which you came?"

The child giggled.

"Okay… how about where you live?"

He got another giggle.

"Where you're parents are?"

The child wiggled in his direction, holding its small arms out for him. "Papa."

Naruto froze, stumbling back and falling on his ass. Did this kid just call him papa? No way that it did; Naruto knew for a strong fact that he didn't have any kids. He stood back up and shook his hands, "Alright, now that I know you can talk, can you tell me where you're mom and dad is?"

"Papa." The baby repeated, still holding its arms out for Naruto to take.

Naruto looked in amazement down at the kid. The baby did call him papa. Did the child not know its parents and just called Naruto papa because he was the first one who found him/her. The raven-colored eyes of the child were staring into his sapphire ones, excited from the look of it, wanting Naruto to pick it up. Naruto couldn't just leave the kid out here alone. A bear or something might eat it. Moving down slowly once again, his arms reached out to take the child out of the bundle.

The child giggled again, "Dada."

"I'm not your dad." Naruto told the child, finding it hard to try and keep the smile off his face. He couldn't let the child see him as its dad when its real one could still be out here somewhere.

"Papa."

"I'll find your dad and return you to him." He promised.

"Dada."

"Please stop calling me that," Naruto was close to crying, but didn't due to years of keeping it in. "I'm not your dad. I wouldn't even know how to be one. I don't have a dad or a mom."

The baby stopped giggling and started to cry, almost like if it knew what Naruto was saying. The kid looked to be about a year old or so, so it could or could not know. Naruto wouldn't know, not having a damn clue on how to deal with kids.

He started panicking, "Wait, don't cry. Please, don't cry." He looked so lost right now, feeling like he was back at the academy when it was test day and he didn't study. He started shaking the baby, "Stop crying! It's okay, look, Daddy's here," he smiled. "Daddy's here." He told the kid, finding it actually easy to pretend to call himself the kid's dad. He didn't like to do anything or think about parents, feeling the pain come back about his not being around.

The kid started giggling again hearing him say that, "Papa."

Naruto smiled a big smile. This kid really wanted him to be its dad. The baby reached up and grabbed his hair, giving it a big pull; Naruto holding in his scream of pain at the gesture. He settled for a pained smile, "Don't pull Daddy's hair." He lectured. He gently took the kid's hand out of his hair. He sighed in realization.

What did he do with this kid now?

Did he bring it to the orphanage? Fat chance they'll take it if they see him bringing it in? They didn't even keep him in, forcing the Old Man to give him his own apartment at seven. Plus, they weren't good to any of the kids there, letting them abuse each other physically and mentally without doing much. He didn't want this kid to go through that. He couldn't tell the Old Man, as it'll lead to the child being given to the orphanage anyway, which Naruto didn't want for the reasons above. So what did he do? He couldn't leave it here on the off-chance that its parents came back. If they left the kid in a basket, they obviously didn't want it anyway. The kid was an orphan like him. He knew how that felt.

But could he take care of it? Hell to the no! He could barely handle himself. How would he be able to take care of a kid while balancing his life as a ninja? He didn't want to leave it, liking the way it felt when he held the baby, who was now asleep in his chest, apparently needing a father's touch to sleep. Until he could figure out what was the right thing to do, the kid stayed with him.

"Wait…" Naruto spoke out loud. "Are you a boy or girl? And what's your name?" he felt really weird talking to a baby that could only apparently say 'Dada' and 'Papa'. He, very awkwardly, took a small peek inside the diaper the kid was wearing.

He didn't see anything between the legs.

"So you're a girl," he noted to the sleeping child. "I need a name for you." He didn't think of any names he could give the baby girl, only knowing names of those he knew. He couldn't call the baby one of those names; it would get weird for when he met up with the other girl with that name. He laughed nervously, "I can't call you Naruko…that would be too weird." He sighed, "I guess I'll call you…Naomi, because now you're my precious beautiful baby girl." He smiled at himself, holding the baby closer to his chest as he carefully snuck back inside the village. If they couldn't see him painting the monument until five minutes after he was finished, there's no way they'll see him with a baby.

Naruto, for the first time in a long time, felt really happy.

End of Chapter 1 of The Fox's Cub

Wow, I actually loved this chapter.

This will eventually end up as NaruSaku. Sasuke will be important too, but more like Naruto's bestie. Yes, I plan on making them not hate each other and become friends in this.

Hope you liked the name for the kid and the chapter.

Remember to review, alert and favorite if you enjoyed and have a nice day.

Next Time: Daddy Naruto


	2. Daddy Naruto

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Wow, 12 reviews, 20 favorites and 23 alerts, and only in the first chapter. I give you all my gratitude for taking the time to do that. Just a heads up about the pacing of the NaruSaku thing. I don't wanna rush it and just have Sakura magically love Naruto over Sasuke over one night. So Sakura will still be lovey dovey over Sasuke for now, so don't get mad. Our favorite blonde will get his girl…just later.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 2- Daddy Naruto

Walking through the back streets of Konoha so no one caught him, Naruto had Naomi's head rested in his chest while the baby slept. Naruto had slipped inside the village without running into anyone yet, much to his upmost relief; not sure how he'll explain to anyone why he was holding a baby in his arms or who's child it was. He was now close to his apartment, only needing to exit out of the alley that he was currently walking in to make it. The light breathing of the baby in his arms was a nice sound Naruto liked to hear. He only knew this baby for a few minutes, but the child sure made an impact on the boy's crappy life. While everyone else ignored him or didn't put up with him for him housing the Kyuubi, Naomi wanted him to hold her the moment he made eye contact with the infant. She didn't know anything about his past, didn't know what he housed, so she didn't have a reason to hate him, to which the blonde jinchuriki was glad and appreciative of.

A fowl odor made him stop in place, his nose sniffing the air to make sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Seeing that there was a trash in close by, he shrugged at the most probable source of the stench. When he stepped out of the alley, a good twenty feet away from the bin, the smell was still as strong as it was before. Taking a sniff of his armpit, he didn't smell the odor in which he smelled. When his hand that was holding Naomi's bottom felt something else other than the baby, Naruto groaned in realization.

Naomi did poop in her diaper.

Obviously not having any diapers, Naruto didn't know what he was gonna use to replace the dirty diaper that he was debating on just taking off now in the streets and throwing it into the alley to rid himself of the horrible smell. A part of him thought it would be funny to save it in case he felt like throwing something at Sasuke the next time he pissed him off, but wasn't _**that **_mean or cruel. Plus, he would just be giving Sasuke a reason to assassinate him in the middle of the night; something he didn't want to happen for obvious reasons. He would figure out the diaper problem when he got upstairs.

Moving faster now, Naruto stomped up the stairs as he headed over to his apartment door. Moving his right hand away from his adopted daughter's head, Naruto ransacked the pockets of his jumpsuit to try and find the keys to his door. Feeling the metal and hearing the jingling of the keys, Naruto pulled them out and unlocked the door to his apartment, walking in with the now-awakening baby in his arms.

He missed Sasuke staring up at him.

Said Uchiha blinked, "Did Naruto just have a baby?" he asked out loud, looking around for anyone to give him an answer. He was out from his compound to go and buy some more food for his kitchen. He had twisted the lid off a water bottle and took a sip and it was when the cool liquid went down his throat that he saw Naruto running out of an alley with a baby in his arms.

He looked to the water bottle before he dumped the remaining water onto the street and tossed the bottle away with it. "What the hell is in this water?"

…

Naruto kicked the door closed with the heel of his foot. He walked over to the kitchen table and placed the now-fully-awaked baby on the surface. Naomi laughed when she saw her new daddy, kicking her feet up excitedly. Naruto would've smiled back if some of the poop didn't slip out of an opening and land on his table.

"I eat there," he whined, getting more disgusted by the smell with each second that passed by. He playfully narrowed his eyes at the laughing baby. "So this is funny? You know, if you can walk and were three feet taller, I'd make you clean the mess." He teased, walking and grabbing some paper towels as he talked. He started with getting the small piece of poop off of his table. "I had my ass violated by my sensei today and even then, I wasn't as grossed out as I am now." Naruto voiced, shuddering slightly as he remembered Kakashi's fingers digging their way in his ass. "I still need to get him back for that."

"Dada," Naomi's soft and small voice called for him, her arms held out and legs kicking. She looked so adorable, so cute, and so innocent; Naruto felt like if that basket was from heaven and Naomi was a small angel sent to him to make his life better. She already has made his life better.

"Daddy's coming to clean you, don't worry." He gave his foxy grin at the child, which made her laugh more. Naruto discarded the paper towel that had the small piece of poop and went over to finish cleaning the mess. He paused, feeling really stupid right now. How did he take off a diaper?

Examining the diaper, he noticed the straps that were on the sides. Grinning in accomplishment, Naruto pulled the straps off and pulled the diaper down, gagging at the stench that now got stronger since it wasn't hid anymore. Coughing up some more, Naruto moved like an idiot in place, trying to figure out how to do this without completely ruining his table. If he held Naomi up and went to throw out the diaper, then her dirty bottom was gonna leave a really nasty stain and smell on his table, to which Naruto would just toss the piece of furniture out and he couldn't afford that.

He thought about what to do before he smirked, a familiar cross seal now formed. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" a poof of smoke gave way to a copy of Naruto, whom also gagged at the smell. "I'm leaving." The clone was held by the collar of the original Naruto.

"Just throw the diaper away and then take yourself out. I can't afford a new table because this one has baby shit on it, all right?" Naruto instructed his clone, complaining in his head about how his clone needed an attitude adjustment. The clone sighed before he pulled the diaper out from under Naomi while Naruto held her small legs up high. He tossed the diaper like if it was a poisonous meal and smashed his head against the wall, hard enough to poof away into smoke.

Naruto scoffed, "I'm not that dramatic." Naomi started crying again, startling Naruto off guard. "What's the matter, Naomi? Why are you crying?" Her head turned to the sound of his voice, the crying gone and now replaced with giggles. Naruto almost facepalmed before he realized what went wrong. Naomi watched the clone hurt himself and vanish, thinking it was him. He laughed, "Daddy's not gonna leave you alone," he promised. "Never ever."

Gently wiping the remaining crap on her bottom, Naruto tossed the towel away in one quick movement, not enjoying holding something with shit stains on it. Now that she was clean, he put her legs down and let her lay on top of his table, wiggling and fussing around. He was met with his first problem he realized back in the alley. She still needed a diaper.

"I have no money for diapers," he started his list of problems. "I have no clue if someone will question me if I do somehow buy diapers, no store that sells baby stuff will be opened this late, and I have nothing to use for a diaper." He pulled his hair in annoyance and frustration.

He slowly looked over towards his curtain by his living room window, not believing what he was about to do. Trudging over in defeat, he pulled the curtain down, part of his house now seeable from outside and trudged back over; almost dragging his feet on the wooden floor. He got creative and folded the curtain into a diaper shape, feeling the need to laugh at himself and crawl away in embarrassment. It's not his fault he had zero baby supplies. He didn't know he was gonna be a dad today.

He smiled at the reminder that he was now a daddy. He didn't know his father, or his mother, and now he had a baby girl that he took upon himself to take care of. He longed for having parents of his own, something he thought about a few times a week. Naomi's smile, laughter, and her affection towards him were some of the best things Naruto has ever seen in his life. He loved holding her, having her wanting him to be with her. He loved this baby a lot already and he knew that as time went on, their daddy/daughter bond would get stronger.

Naruto just realized that he now had another strong bond to add to his sadly small list. His adopted daughter, not that Naruto would think of her as that; loving her like if she was his flesh and blood was now a part of his special people. He knew how much it sucked to be an orphan with no parents, so it increased his resolve to make sure that he was always around for Naomi when she needed him.

He pulled her legs up again to put the makeshift diaper on her. He pulled her off the table, the curtain diaper slipping through and falling onto the floor. Naruto realized that it was too big for a baby her size. Naomi was just laughing and seemingly enjoying her adopted father's misery and frustration. Naruto ransacked what he called a brain to try and come up with an idea to get the diaper to stay on. Holding Naomi with one hand, Naruto strolled over to the kitchen drawer and looked around for something he can use. Pulling out a small roll of tape, Naruto bit off two small pieces before putting the roll away again. Setting Naomi back on the table, Naruto grabbed the curtain diaper and put it on her, sticking the two pieces of tape on the sides so it didn't slip off again. He picked her back up and saw that now it stayed on.

"I need to get diapers," Naruto sighed at the image of his daughter wearing a poor excuse of a diaper. It looked really embarrassing but at least she wouldn't have to deal with it forever; just one night. "And what ever kind of food that babies eat," Naruto's supply of instant ramen wasn't edible food for a baby. "And somewhere for her to sleep." He felt Naomi grab his finger and start to bite on it, making him yelp at the nerves of pain he felt. "Don't bite, Daddy." He pulled his finger from Naomi's mouth, the young girl moving her hands to grab the top of his collar, biting on that now. "Why are you biting everything?" he asked.

Naomi giggled, "Papa." She muffled through her mouth that was still biting on his collar. She was definitely a cute kid for sure. Naruto felt lucky to have found her.

He blinked, tilting his head. "You kinda look like my teammate Sasuke." He noticed. Maybe it was just because she had black hair and eyes like him. But while Naomi always smiled and giggled, Sasuke always frowned and scoffed.

Naomi blinked at the unfamiliar name, wondering who that was.

Naruto laughed, "On second thought, forget that. You're cute and sweet. He's ugly and a teme."

Naomi giggled, "Teme." She repeated her dad, whose eyes widened when he heard her say that, both because she said Teme and because she said something else other than 'Papa' and 'Dada'.

"Don't say that word," he scolded. "It's bad…" he smirked. "Good job though."

His daughter laughed.

"Time to sleep, kiddo; Dad has some stuff to do tomorrow." Naruto's jaw dropped when he remembered that he starts his life as a ninja tomorrow and he'll be gone for really long hours of the day. He couldn't just ask someone to watch her, as that'll lead into a scenario where Old Man Hokage will take her away and put her in the orphanage. That place was hell for kids of all ages, whether you were Naruto or just any other normal child. He couldn't, and wouldn't, let Naomi go through life like that. He had to think of something.

He brightened. Shadow Clone Jutsu for the win! He can leave a clone here with her while he went out and did his duties as a member of Team 7. And the best part of it was that he never ran out of babysitters, being able to make as many clones as he wants. Finally, something goes right for him.

Carrying her through the house, Naruto opened the door to his bedroom. Setting her down on the bed, he proceeded to switch into his pajamas. "You have to sleep with Daddy until he can get you a bed, okay Naomi?"

She didn't seem to have problem with it, rolling on the bed and landing on her stomach. Her black eyes landed on Naruto's frog wallet that he took out of his pocket and tossed on the bed. She crawled over and grabbed the wallet with her hands, sucking on the frog eyes.

Naruto noticed and laughed, "You like Gama-chan, Naomi?" the baby looked to him while still sucking on the frog-wallet. "I'll take that as a yes." Naruto picked the baby girl up and kissed her forehead. "Daddy loves you, Naomi… and he always will."

Naomi moved her head closer to Naruto, her head falling into his chest; the comfort helping her to close her eyes and fall asleep.

Naruto pulled the frog wallet out from her mouth and threw it to the floor with the intention to get it in the morning. Setting his daughter on the bed, he climbed in after her and brought her back to his chest, giving her another kiss on top of her raven-haired head.

"Goodnight my princess."

…

A loud bang on his door woke Naruto up from his slumber, the blonde opening one eye in a glare. Who the hell was banging on his door at this early in the morning? He opened his second eye wide when he realized that he was supposed to meet his team, he looked at the clock by his dresser, three hours ago.

He almost jumped up and started ransacking before he remembered the bundle that was still sleeping in his arms. Naomi was still resting despite the banging of his front door. He knew it was Sasuke. He just had that feeling.

Standing up, he formed the cross seal and a clone of his appeared. He turned to the clone, "It's your job today to watch Naomi-chan and make sure she isn't alone."

The clone frowned, "I wanna go on the cool ninja missions. Why can't you watch her?"

Naruto glared. "Because I'm the real Naruto. Plus, wouldn't it feel better to watch our daughter than to be out all day and leave her alone in this crappy house with the possibility of some idiot villager coming back to curse me out?"

The clone blinked once, twice, three times before he nodded. "Yeah, makes sense, I guess. Yeah, I'll watch little Naomi-chan."

Naruto nodded, "Don't dispel."

"Shouldn't you make more clones just in case then? She might bite me and dispel me and then she'll be alone and you won't know."

"Good point," Naruto formed the sign again and made three more clones. "Alright Narutos, the job for you four is to watch our daughter. Think you can handle it?"

All four saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

Naruto nodded before he moved at lightning speeds to get dressed. Grabbing Gama-chan off the floor from where he threw it last night, Naruto placed a quick kiss on Naomi's cheek. "Bye, Naomi." He rushed out the room and over to the door, swinging it open and taking a punch to the face by Sasuke, who was going to knock again. The sudden movement shut the door behind him. "Damn you, Teme!"

"Answer the door the first time, then. Maybe you won't get punched next time." Sasuke shrugged, defending himself from a Naruto outburst.

"Why were you still home, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his book. "I thought I said to meet at a very specific time?"

Sakura sighed, "You only got there five minutes before we came here, sensei." She reminded, the jonin smiling sheepishly behind his mask. "Did you oversleep, baka?"

Naruto paled slightly, not sure exactly what he said now. He couldn't tell his team that he was now a father. They wouldn't believe him or lecture him on how he wasn't ready to have a baby. Naruto wasn't in the mood to argue about his parentage of Naomi to anyone. They didn't need to know now. Call this as payback for not wanting to spend time with him. Naruto grinned in apology, "Yes Sakura-chan, I overslept."

Sakura glared at him, "Don't do it again," she warned. "It's our first day of missions so I'm in a happy mood,"

'That's a happy mood?' Sasuke and Kakashi asked simultaneously in thought.

"Just don't do it again, you hear?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes!"

Kakashi interrupted the two before something else escalated from it. "Let's start our missions. I already taken the liberty and picked out our first one."

The three teens brightened, Sasuke only giving Kakashi more attention than normal, waiting anxiously for their first mission. What could it be? Fighting rouge-nin? Protecting someone important? Finding a lost and secret scroll?

"What is it?" Naruto was the one to ask the question, leaning in a little too closely to Kakashi for his liking, which caused the man to push Naruto out of his personal space.

"Like I was saying, your first mission is… babysitting." He almost laughed at the looks on their faces.

'You gotta be shitting me!'

'Really? Babysitting?'

'I could've stayed home for that.'

End of Chapter 2 of The Fox's Cub

Naruto and Naomi father/daughter time. Naruto's not that bad of a parent.

More NaruSaku will come.

And P.S, someone will find out about Naomi before the Land of Waves. I didn't jump right into the Wave Arc since Team 7 did a week of other missions before Naruto convinced the Third to give them the C-Rank.

So, expect one or two chapters of Naruto acting like a dad before we get to the Wave Arc and before we get to some Sakura and Naomi bonding. *hint hint*

Next Time: Baby Shopping


	3. Baby Shopping

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Wow, now we have 26 reviews, 32 favorites and 46 alerts. Thank you to all who took time to do that. It's because of all the support that I'm writing this. Now I have a question?**

**Who will find Naomi first?**

**I'll give you a list at the end and pick out who you think will find out first. The person will be revealed very soon and the first person to guess it right will get a shoutout.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 3- Baby Shopping

"How did you know how to do that?"

Naruto almost froze in place at Sakura's question. When they arrived at the house to do their mission or as Naruto called it, a chore, Kakashi didn't feel like wasting any of his time with the relatively easy mission, so he pulled out his orange book and camped out in the living room while the genin were stuck with the crying baby they were meant to babysit. Sasuke tried first, not by his choice; Naruto had shoved him ahead first to see just how miserable he'll fail at trying to get a baby to stop crying. Sasuke had hovered over the crying infant, blinking every few seconds before he backed away commenting how he wasn't gonna stoop so low as to get a baby to stop crying, his pride as an Uchiha taking over and making him seclude himself from his two remaining teammates, joining Kakashi in the living room.

Sakura moved in next, not completely trusting or believing that Naruto could handle a baby. She had picked up the infant and did her best to rock the boy to make him stop crying. The baby boy looked at her for a second before he went right back to crying. Naruto wanted to do something, but Sakura's warning glare told him that it wasn't the best idea for him to interfere. Sakura then cooed something Naruto couldn't hear under her breath, which got the kid to stop crying for a minute. It was then that Naruto saw just how good Sakura apparently was with kids. She was better than him when he first started parenthood the other night, getting this baby to stop crying faster then Naruto had changed a diaper; which should've been easy. But like he said before, he wasn't prepared for parenthood, so he wasn't able to get baby supplies; which he needed to go and get as soon as he could. Naomi wouldn't like having a curtain for a diaper for too long and Naruto wasn't the biggest fan of having his curtains shit-stained.

He missed his daughter. Looking at Sakura taking care of this baby now made him miss the moments that he shared with Naomi for the night. Sure it was disgusting having to smell the diaper and it sucked that one of his curtains was now holding pee and poop, but he didn't mind. He liked taking care of her, giving her the love and affection that he always wanted with a parent. Was it wrong that he was kinda jealous at a baby that had what he didn't growing up? Maybe, but it only increased the determination that Naruto had to take care of her and save her from the life of an orphan. He wouldn't let Naomi down. He would be the best father that he can be with her. He now couldn't wait more than ever to go home, something that he usually didn't like to do before he found the girl. It just showed how much of an impact that she made on him in their short hours together.

The crying of this baby had brought Naruto out of his little reminisce of his own baby. Sakura was trying hard to get it to stop, going back to what she did before; hoping it would work again and calm the baby down. When it didn't, she began to panic, spouting some pleas and some funny nonsense to the baby in an effort to get it to stop crying. Naruto could see that she was desperate for some kind of help, so he moved closer and held his arms out to take the child. Sakura, figuring things couldn't get any worse, handed him the kid, ready to be amused at what Naruto did to try and solve the problem. Even Sasuke and Kakashi, both appearing when they heard the cries again after it stopped, were watching with keen eyes.

Naruto didn't feel the need to be nervous, just pretending that the baby he was now holding was Naomi. He cuddled this kid to his chest and started rocking it back and forth, humming comforting words to help the kid to fall asleep. It worked, as the kid drifted back off to sleep, the three other members of Team 7 staring in shock and disbelief at the blonde knucklehead. How did Naruto know what to do with a baby? The guy was denser than a piece of wood.

And so Sakura asked her question, Naruto now not sure how he was gonna respond to that. He couldn't tell them that he was now a parent, but he knew that if he kept lying and trying to play a charade, then he was gonna get caught and things would get chaotic and hectic for him. The burrowing looks that each of his teammates was giving him made him laugh uneasily. He put the baby back down and turned back to them, the gears in his head moving to try and think of a reasonable answer to give to them.

"Well… umm, I saw what Sakura-chan did and I just tried it out in a different way." A nervous laugh was thrown in there at the end, along with a scratch of the head.

Sakura seemed to accept this, nodding and leaving it alone after that, but Kakashi and Sasuke were different. Sasuke was appearing to think of something, running his thumb across his chin as he stared at Naruto closely. Naruto forgot that Sasuke wasn't just a genius in the ninja arts, but a genius in everything. He thought Sasuke was gonna call him out on lying, which made Naruto start to sweat more and more while the Uchiha kept stroking his chin. After a minute of this, Sasuke sighed before shrugging; appearing to not care anymore about what he was thinking.

Kakashi still kept staring at him, that one eye of his looking at him all creepy. He was humming while he started what Sasuke stopped doing, stroking his chin and closing his eye, which prevented him from seeing Naruto sweat more. Now he was worried that Kakashi would call him out on lying. As a jonin, that's what the man was good for; calling others out and being the best in deception and looking underneath the underneath. Naruto prepared to make up another lie, cheering and celebrating in his head when Kakashi didn't say anything, only giving an eye-smile.

"Looks like we have ourselves a baby expert here,"

Naruto laughed nervously again, still feeling Sakura and Sasuke stare at him. Well at least now the mission was done. All they had to do now was wait for the kid's father to come back and then they could move on to something bigger and better to do.

…

Wrong!

After the kid's dad came back, Naruto pulled him aside privately to ask what stuff babies needed and where would be a good place to get them. The man had been confused but gave him the information he needed, to which Naruto was eternally grateful for.

Anyway, now Kakashi said that they had to go shopping for someone else. Naruto had of course shouted that that wasn't a real mission. He wanted to go out and do dangerous ninja-like things, not stuff that average civilians can do. If he knew this was how ninja life was gonna be at the start, he would've just stayed home until the bigger and better missions started rolling out. He can honestly say that he was now just wasting his time by being here. He could be spending time with Naomi himself and wouldn't need to have his Shadow Clones do that job for him.

He wondered how they were doing right now. Was she okay? Did she miss him? Were his clones doing a good job of watching her? Were they even still there? Naruto hasn't tried to make clones last as long as he's been out right now, give or take a few hours. He didn't want to run the risk of his clones vanishing and leaving Naomi by herself all alone, so he hasn't used any chakra since he left. He laughed at himself for acting like a paranoid parent, kinda relishing in the feeling. He was sure hoping that Naomi was okay. Only a little bit longer and then he can go home and take care of her himself.

He almost missed Kakashi throwing him a list of stuff that he needed to buy. Much to his chagrin, he was paired off with Sasuke, silently hoping that he got Sakura instead of this teme. Sasuke wasn't thrilled about it either, but figured it was better than being stuck with Sakura for a long time of nothing but her flirting attempts and her asking him out. Naruto might've been an annoying idiot, but at least he didn't constantly make him wanna go and smash his head into the wall from frustration.

Sasuke sighed, "What does yours say?"

Naruto went to read it before he looked forward, spotting in the distance the place that the other dad told him was good if you wanted baby supplies. Here was his chance to go and get some of the stuff that he needed for Naomi, but he had one problem. He turned to said problem and acted like he was reading off the list. "What do you know," he pretended to sound annoyed. "More baby stuff. I guess a lot of people have kids nowadays, huh Sasuke?" he grinned sheepishly at his teammate.

Sasuke shrugged, "Too many people are having kids then. First I see you holding a kid, then the babysitting mission that we just had, and now-"

"What!?" Naruto shouted a little too loudly for him to be asking a question. He drew the attention of people passing by, who were staring at him like if he had gone mad. Naruto waved at the crowd, saying that there wasn't anything to see here. They shrugged and walked away, proclaiming it as just another Naruto incident. Said blonde turned to a confused Sasuke. "What do you mean you saw me with a kid?" he did a good job at masking the nervousness he was feeling at the moment.

Sasuke shrugged again, "It's nothing. I was just imagining the whole thing."

"Humor me."

Sasuke sighed. "I went shopping and was going back to my clan's compound. I opened a bottle of water and drank from it. After I did, I saw you running by and holding a kid in your arms. I wrote it off as something in the water." He told the story of last night. He didn't think it was that big of a deal. He just had some bad water. Nothing big about that, right?

Naruto paled, remembering running out of the alley with a poop-filled Naomi in his arms. He didn't think Sasuke would be around. The Uchiha stayed away from anywhere near where Naruto lived, which was a reason why he loved the location of where he lived. But he did say he was shopping, so it was just some bad luck, as all. Naruto would have to be more careful. If Sasuke saw him, then anyone could see him.

He nodded fiercely, "Yeah, probably something bad in the water. Shit happens afterall." He laughed before he hightailed it out of there and into the store, leaving a cloud of dirt from how fast he moved.

Sasuke blinked once before shrugging it off as Naruto acting stupid again. But, for some strange reason, Sasuke was sure that the blonde was lying to him. Naruto was never one to panic for anything, only doing so if he got caught with something that he obviously didn't want to be caught about. It happened many times during the academy after he was caught with his pranks. This Naruto that made the cloud of dirt resembled that of the Naruto that was caught for putting chocolate laxities in Iruka's coffee mug. Sasuke guessed the idiot was hiding something. If it grew to be a problem for all of them, then he would step in and do something. But until then, Naruto can have fun doing his own thing.

Sasuke walked off to get what was listed on his paper, intending to meet Naruto back here to pull their supplies together. When he looked over, he saw Naruto running out of the baby store over to somewhere else. If what he had listed was in that store, why the hell was he bolting out and going somewhere else? Now Sasuke knew that Naruto couldn't have gotten a list of stuff within a few seconds, just no way. Sasuke would question him when he got back from getting his listed materials.

Things were just getting weirder and weirder, he thought.

…

Naruto walked off into the store, leaving Sasuke behind outside. He now had his golden chance to get what he needed for Naomi, and also a chance to get his thoughts collected. Sasuke almost caught him out there. Sasuke almost figured out that Naruto did have a kid with him. He just got lucky that Sasuke had the water with him or else he wouldn't have passed it off as a crazy illusion conjured up by the water. This just proved that Naruto had to be more careful when it came to anything involving Naomi.

She was what he thought about as he planned out his next move. If he didn't show up with what was actually listed on the piece of paper, Kakashi was gonna get on his ass about it and then he would really be in trouble. If he made another clone to go out and get what was really listed, then there was the worry that the clones watching Naomi might disappear after being active for so long. Naruto was never good at chakra control, he still isn't, but he would need to take this risk if he didn't want to have to get exposed.

Performing his jutsu, another clone appeared and Naruto shoved the list into his hand. "Go and get that stuff or I'm in real shit. I need to get stuff for Naomi." The clone nodded and took off out of the store, leaving Naruto alone once again. He surveyed the shelves around him, wondering to himself what a baby would need. He didn't get bothered by the confused looks some of the people were giving him. He would be the same way if he saw someone that didn't really belong where they were standing.

He grabbed anything he thought would be useful, the first thing being diapers so his curtain didn't have to act as a shit-holder anymore. He also took the time to grab bottles, some clothes, and one or two toys for the baby. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when her daddy came back with toys for her to play with. Even if he didn't have much money to spend, his daughter's needs were more important then his own. He would give her everything that he didn't have growing up and more.

His arms now piled with baby stuff, he walked over to the counter and dropped the small pile onto the surface. Of course the lady behind it was looking at him weird. It wasn't one of the glares he got from people most of the time, but one of honest confusion at why a young boy was in a baby store buying baby stuff. He laughed nervously; he'd been doing that a lot lately, and gestured to the pile.

"Part of my mission is to buy baby stuff." He gave a reasonable reason, happy that she apparently bought it and started ringing him up for the items. Naruto looked over to his side and almost rolled his eyes as passing people saw him standing by the counter. Yes, Naruto Uzumaki was buying baby stuff. It wasn't that big of a deal after a few minutes. Just move on and do something else with your time.

Giving the only money he had, which barely reached the total price, Naruto scooped up the bags and saw that his clone was waiting for him outside with his own, having gotten what the mission really requested. Trading off bags, Naruto sent his clone to go and drop the stuff off at the apartment, waiting outside now for his team to come back. After a few minutes, Sakura and Kakashi reappeared with their shopping bags. Now they just had to wait for Sasuke.

Wait… why was Sasuke the last one to come? He was never the last one to come for anything.

The raven-haired Uchiha appeared. Naruto's nerves calmed down a little when nothing seemed wrong with the picture. Sasuke just had his bags and his usual emo face, nothing new.

"Alright…" Kakashi announced. "Let's drop these bags off and then we'll call it a day."

'Daddy's coming home soon, Naomi.'

…

He ran back home when they were dismissed, needing to see if his daughter was okay and if his clones were still there or not. Jumping up the stairs three at a time, Naruto opened his door and was relieved everything was fine.

One clone was making funny faces at Naomi while another held her and the other three made space to put the baby stuff away. They saw Naruto enter and were a little disappointed that they were gonna have to disappear now, liking the time that they spent with the baby.

"Was it good?" Naruto asked as the clone holding Naomi gave him the baby.

Another nodded, "Yes. She didn't cry all that much, only doing so when she had the curtain-diaper filled." He sounded scared for a second, something Naruto did not miss.

Naruto noticed she was still wearing it, "Did you clean it?" he asked, the clones all getting nervous all of a sudden. Naruto looked and saw that not only was one curtain missing, but two of them were. "This is my other curtain!?" he yelled, scaring Naomi by how loud he yelled. She started shaking.

"Ummm…" one clone was brave enough, or stupid enough, to try and explain. "You see, Clone 5 didn't come with the stuff until much later, and we needed to give her something while we cleaned the other curtain so we kinda… used the other one."

All clones vanished as Naruto cancelled the jutsu, glaring at the spaces in which they were left. "I really hate those guys." He growled. Naomi started crying. Naruto went right into daddy-mode. "Why are you crying? Did Daddy scare you when he yelled?" he looked around for the bag; figuring one of the toys he bought her would be enough to get her to stop crying. He spotted it on the table. He rushed and pulled out the small bunny he bought. "Look, princess," Naomi looked, "Daddy got you a bunny."

She started giggling and reached to grab the bunny, hugging it and sucking on the ears. She smiled, "Daddy." Her voice was muffled by the bunny ears in her mouth.

Naruto smiled. "Daddy loves you. He'll love and protect you forever… that's the promise of a lifetime."

End of Chapter 3 of The Fox's Cub

Naruto/Naomi father/daughter time is a brewing next time. The entire next chapter, well most of it, is just them.

NaruSaku is coming so bear with me on that.

I love the Naruto and Sasuke interactions. Can't wait for them to be friends in this.

Now that list:

-Rookie 9

-Iruka

-Kakashi

-Old Man Hokage

Which do you think will find Naomi first and if you pick Rookie 9, who out of the Rookie 9 do you think?

Next Time: Daddy's Little Princess


	4. Daddy's Little Princess

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **So on the third chapter, we now have 52 reviews, 43 favorites and 57 alerts. I once again give you all my thanks. The next chapter is when someone finds little Naomi. Like I said before, I'll give a shoutout to the person who guessed first next time so no one can go and check and spoil it.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 4- Daddy's Little Princess

After a week of doing stupid missions that made Naruto want to pull his hair out, he was finally home now with his daughter Naomi.

"Crawl to Daddy."

Naruto lay flat on the surface of his floor, Naomi a few paces away from him, giggling up a storm. Naruto had a day off after successfully completing many crappy missions that were more or less chores. Kakashi insisted that they have it, as there were other things that he needed to do, according to him anyway. He probably just wanted to read more of his stupid book. Whatever, Naruto didn't care. He had more time now with Naomi anyway, something that he didn't have much because of his ninja duties. He hated leaving clones with her all day. He wanted to be with her in person, not in a cloud of smoke waiting to go off. He had time now, which he was using to its fullest extent.

Sasuke has been giving Naruto 'the eye' as of lately. Whenever he didn't think he saw, Naruto always saw Sasuke looking at him with this weird eye motion. It honestly gave Naruto the creeps and enforced the theory that Naruto had of Sasuke being gay. He never saw Sasuke flirt with any girls, never give any kind of attention to the female species, or even talk to any of them. And now he was giving Naruto the creepy eye? Yeah, Naruto really thought that the Uchiha was gay. Naruto didn't care if he was, but he better not make any sort of advances on him. He still liked Sakura and was still thinking of ways to get her to like him. He couldn't have Sasuke interfere with that if he had his eye on him. That sounded creepy, Naruto thought.

He was trying to get Naomi to crawl to him now. When he left the bedroom to go and get the child some milk, he was met with his daughter crawling her way off of the bed. His eyes pale as a Hyuga's and his blood rushing into adrenaline overdrive, Naruto ran faster than he ever did before and caught the baby before she fell, landing on his back in a oomph. He learned a new rule about parenting:

Never let the kid stay by themselves if you left them on a bed. They will try and crawl off.

Naomi wouldn't move from her spot just a little away from Naruto. She just kept banging her hands on the floor, laughing like if she heard the funniest thing in the world. While it looked adorable, Naruto wanted her to crawl to him. He wanted to see her move and come to him. He sighed before he waved her toy bunny he bought her the other week. Her small black eyes looked over to it, "Come get the bunny, Naomi. I think it wants to play with you." Naruto cooed over to his daughter.

Brightening even more when she saw it, Naomi reached her small arms out to the bunny, trying desperately to get it from where she was. Naruto assumed he was making progress, thinking that when she realized she couldn't get it from over there, she would have to move and get it from him. Naomi moved her arms forward, gurgling as she seemed to edge closer to Naruto, never looking away from the waving bunny. Her childlike mind seemed to be solely interested in the white bunny, wanting to grab it and do what babies did to their toys.

"That's it, Naomi, just a little bit more." Naruto urged, making things easier for the baby and holding the toy out so it was easier for her to grab. Naomi was so close. Only a few more crawls and she would make it.

Gurgling still, the baby grabbed the foot of the bunny and tugged on it, her dad's grip obviously stronger then hers as she couldn't get the bunny to come down. Naruto smiled before he let go, Naomi grabbing the bunny now with both of her hands. She gripped the white fur before she went to start biting on the ears. Naruto noticed that she always went to bite on something, whether it was his finger, her toy, or Gama-chan. He didn't know why she did, but figured it couldn't hurt all that much if she bit on her soft toys.

Naruto closed his eyes, letting a breath out his nose. "I'm sorry that I can't take you outside and play." He chuckled, "People will question daddy on why he has you and then they'll…" he could already feel himself getting choked up and angry at the strong possibility. "They'll take you away from me."

Naruto would go up against the demon inside his stomach one-handed with no weapons and no chakra to keep his daughter with him. Naomi really felt like his real child now, not just a baby he found in the woods. Nothing would keep him from being with her if he had anything to say about it. But there were two things that attacked him on a day-to-day basis about Naomi.

The first thing was the possibility of her real parents coming to find her. Naruto always wondered at least a few times a day what he would do if Naomi's real parents somehow found where she was and asked for her back. Naruto wouldn't want to give her back, especially since they left her in the woods alone in the first place, but he wouldn't want to keep Naomi away from her real parents. Plus, he would be alone again if she were to be taken from him. Naomi was Baby Uzumaki in Naruto's eyes for as long as he can see into the future. He would raise her as a classic Uzumaki and treat her with only the best intentions in mind.

The second thing, one that made Naruto feel really bad almost all the time, was the fact that Naomi had no mom. He wanted his daughter to have everything that he didn't have, and that included having _**both **_a mom and a dad. Naruto filled the dad spot, but didn't know who could, or would even want, to fill the mother spot in Naomi's life. Also add to the fact that the baby was one of the only people that can even stand Naruto in any way, the possibility of her getting a mom was really slim. His hormone-induced mind thought many scenarios in which Sakura was the mother of Naomi, adding the baby into the fantasies he came up with him and Sakura married and happy together and Naruto kicking Sasuke's ass all the time. But there were so many things that prevented that from happening. For now, Naruto figured, he was a single parent and Naomi would only have a dad.

He heard his stomach growling, the rather loud noise startling Naomi. Naruto laughed, "Sorry, sweetie, Daddy didn't mean to scare you. He's just hungry. Even adults get hungry too." Of course he wasn't an adult as of age, but since he was a ninja now, he was seen as an adult in the eyes of the people. "Are you hungry too?"

Naomi's small stomach didn't make a noise as loud as her dad's, but Naruto knew that she hadn't eaten for a little while. Plus, she got grouchy and cried a lot when she was hungry, something he learned two nights ago when Naomi woke up crying. Of course after many failed attempts at getting her to stop, giving her Gama-chan to bite on, seeing if she had a dirty diaper; Naruto thanking Kami when he saw she didn't, he finally deduced that she was hungry. He was glad he figured it out because he heard his neighbors yelling at him to quiet down or they'll file a complaint and that'll lead to Hokage-jiji coming and seeing what made the disturbance. But even if he got the bottle ready, the baby still gave him a fight about it. She wouldn't let him put the nipple of the bottle in her mouth and kicked him in very sensitive areas when he sat down holding her. Naruto assumed that if she kept doing that and kicking him there, she was gonna be the only kid he had. He finally got it in, the crying stopping afterward and the neighbors' yelling stopping.

Kids did make things harder, Naruto thought that night.

Wanting to avoid any kind of chance of that happening again, Naruto went to work of making the food ready for his little girl while simultaneously making his own cup of instant ramen. He of course looked to Naomi every possible chance, both to admire how cute his daughter was and because he was still on high-alert after the whole her crawling off the bed incident.

Naruto thought about the future of when it came to babysitters for her. According to Kakashi, if they kept getting as much done as they did, they would be moving on to the more difficult missions. While Naruto was ecstatic to be getting more difficult missions, he knew that he would probably have to go out the village for those. He couldn't leave Shadow Clones too far away or else they'll dissipate, leaving Naomi alone in an apartment building with no one to look after her. It was when that time came that Naruto knew that he would need to come out about her. But even if he did come out and say that he had a daughter, he worried about a lot of reactions. The one thing that he truly worried about was what the villagers might do to her. They might take her, do bad things to her… or even kill her to make Naruto miserable.

He shook his head fiercely at that. He would sooner die himself then have anything happen to Naomi. He a promise of a lifetime to always love and protect her from everything and anything that threatened her and he would take that seriously, for if there was one thing that Naruto knew about parents, it was that they loved and protected their children no matter what.

When his and Naomi's food was ready, he held the bottle in one hand and the cup of ramen in the other. Placing his food on the kitchen table, he went to go and pick up his daughter, whom was still playing with her toy bunny. She dropped it when her dad picked her up, already seemingly missing playing with it as she reached down to try and get it anyway. Naruto sat down at the kitchen chair, Naomi held tightly in one arm and her bottle in the other. Naruto learned that you have to tilt it up only a little or else the kid would choke. He learned when Naomi spit-up the milk on the day he bought all that stuff from the baby store that he went to.

"Here you go, baby." Naruto put the tip on her mouth. "Drink up so you can be big and strong just like your daddy." He grinned when she seemed to listen and started drinking her milk. Naruto took too much pride in that. Naomi was just drinking because she was hungry, not because her dad told her she'll be big and strong like him. Naruto wasn't big at all, being really short for his age.

When Naomi spotted the ramen, her curiosity kicked in and she reached over to grab it. Naruto snagged her hand before it got far, "No, Naomi. That's Daddy's food." He playfully scolded her, moving her hand away. "The bottle is for you."

Naomi didn't seem to like it, wanting to see how the ramen tasted like. Naruto laughed, "Just because your daddy's little princess doesn't mean that he'll give you something that can hurt you. When you get teeth and are older, we can go on a daddy/daughter day-out and eat all the ramen you want. You're gonna love Ichiraku." Naruto now couldn't wait for those daddy/daughter days himself. When Naomi was old enough or when he revealed her, they would go out the house and spend time together.

He missed someone looking at him through the window.

…

'I knew it!' the person thought as they watched Naruto and Naomi through the window. Naruto must've forgotten to put the curtains back up, or at the very least, close them. This person got up early to go and see if they weren't just imagining the whole thing. When they hopped on the roof and saw Naruto holding and feeding a baby, they knew they were right.

'I saw his clone run to his house with baby stuff, but I thought I imagined the whole thing.' The person raised an eyebrow. 'I had no idea he had a kid. Guess I'll go and ask why.' The person leaped down and knocked on the door, waiting for him to open it. 'This is sure to be interesting.'

The person waited and sure enough, Naruto opened the door and was shocked at who he saw.

"What are _**you **_doing here?"

End of Chapter 4 of The Fox's Cub

Yeah, kinda short but I've been busy today and figured that I can at least give you this. The bright side is that tomorrow's chapter is gonna be longer.

Someone found out. You'll find out who next time. Hope I didn't rush that someone found out about Naomi but its Konoha's a ninja village. Shit doesn't stay a secret for long.

The person who guessed right first will get a shoutout.

Land of Waves in 2 chapters. Get ready, its gonna be a bumpy romance and angst and drama filled ride.

Next Time: More Help


	5. More Help

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **We are at 62 reviews, 51 favorites and 75 alerts. Almost to 100 reviews already and not even on double-digit chapters yet.**

**Like I said, the first person to guess right was **_**THE 7**__**TH**__** DEMON OF RAZGRIZ**_**. Congratulations at being the first one to guess right.**

**Next time we start Wave. Hope ya'll are ready.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 5- More Help

Naruto paled at the sight of the person standing in front of him, his hands trembling and his brain not registering to close the door on the person's face. Naomi was on the floor, crawling and going back to biting the bunny's ears. The person watching Naruto looked over to the kid and raised an eyebrow. Naruto didn't know for the life of him how he was gonna get this guy to be quiet about Naomi. He would probably tell Kakashi that he had a kid, which in turn would make Kakashi tell the Hokage, which in turn would make the old man take Naomi away from him, and that would lead to Naruto sneaking into this guy's house at night and killing him.

He didn't care if Sasuke was stronger then him, he would kill him.

Sasuke was surely confused at seeing Naomi and probably demanded answers. Well he doesn't need to know why Naruto had a baby with him in his house. They weren't even friends. And another thing, why the hell was Sasuke even at his house anyway? Naruto sure as hell didn't invite him over and Sasuke would probably go and jump off a roof before he would come to Naruto's place willingly. Well what ever the reason, it killed Naruto's secret; possibly killing his time as a parent.

Sasuke didn't look back to Naruto while he asked his question, "Tell me why there seems to be a baby in your house?" Sasuke had a feeling all week that Naruto was hiding something from them. The first thing that made Sasuke suspicious was their first day as an official team. Naruto hadn't shown up to the meeting place that they agreed to meet at, which of course confused Sasuke since the dobe was the most excited out of all of them to begin missions. Secondly was when he made that baby stop crying their babysitting mission, something that no one else on their team could do, and it was dimwitted Naruto that did it and got the kid to stop crying. Third, but sure as hell not last, Sasuke saw him running, or at least a clone of him running, back to his house with baby stuff after that clone had gone and bought the stuff for their shopping mission, handing the goods over to the original Naruto in a switch.

So, Sasuke took a few minutes to see exactly what was going on with that. He followed the clone back to wherever it was going and saw it enter Naruto's apartment. Inside the apartment were five clones of Naruto handling a baby, a baby that seemed familiar to Sasuke. He never saw the kid before, that much he knew, but the face struck something in him that made him recognize parts of it. He didn't let it bother him too much, not wanting any extra headaches on top of everything else he was dealing with. And the funny thing was that it was the same kid that he saw Naruto walking with after drinking the 'tainted' water.

That explained Naruto's on-edge attitude when Sasuke brought up that he saw him with a baby that night. This baby explained why Naruto seemed different lately, dare he say, more responsible. If only he had this kid back in the academy then maybe Naruto would've been easier to deal with. He still wasn't, but he was easier to handle then his academy counterpart.

Naruto tightened his grip on the doorknob, trying his best to lower his panicked look slightly. "None of your business, teme! Why don't you go and train alone some more?" Naruto swung his arm forward, fully intending to smash the wooden door in the last Uchiha's face, some of the intent being payback for when he punched him in the face the first day of missions.

Sasuke's foot stopped the door midway, shaking his head at Naruto. "You're holding me up for that." He explained, kicking the door back open all the way, Naruto's eyes glaring at him.

"How the hell am I exactly doing that?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to curse in front of your…" he paused, not knowing the relation that this kid had with Naruto. Was it his sister? Not likely, they didn't look anything alike. Maybe they had different parents? Was it his cousin? Quite possibly so. And here was the one that Sasuke knew for sure wasn't it… his daughter? "How is this kid related to you?"

Naruto shook his head at the raven-haired Uchiha, his glare intensifying at the boy, who didn't seemed fazed by it. "None of your business, teme! And tell me how the hell am I holding you up from training? You're the one that barged in here and is asking me questions about my personal life… something that you don't even care about."

The tone of his voice made Sasuke feel somewhat bad. He knew that Naruto tried before to get him to hang out and spend some time together on increasing their bond, or at least try and start one. He knew that he didn't have a right to come and ask questions, but Naruto would've done the same thing to him if he was the one to have a secret kid with him. Only difference being that Naruto would've questioned him in front of everyone and embarrass him. At least Sasuke had the decency to come when Naruto was home to ask him questions.

Sasuke looked back over to the baby, who was starting to use the leg of the chair as a leverage to stand up. "Hey, Naruto." Said blonde narrowed his eyes. Sasuke pointed behind him, "That baby is standing up."

Naruto was about to call Sasuke a dirty liar before he decided to humor him and turn around. When he did, he was met with an amazing sight, well at least to him.

Naomi was using two hands to hold onto the leg of the chair and was standing on two feet. Naruto felt really proud right now as a dad to see his little girl stand up and begin trying to walk. She fell back and landed on her diaper-covered butt, the sudden fall scaring her and making her start to cry.

Her loud cries made Naruto go right into his father mode, completely ignoring Sasuke's presence altogether. He could deal with the boy after he handled his little girl. He scooped up his baby off of the ground and started rocking her. "There there, its okay." He cooed to Naomi, whose crying subsided just a little bit because her dad was now holding her. "Is your butt okay? Did you hurt it when you fell down?" he laughed. "You're already trying to walk…" he whispered so Sasuke couldn't hear. "That's my girl."

Sasuke watched the scene in front of him with a keen eye. Seeing Naruto Uzumaki, the blonde goof of his class, someone Sasuke would never expect to grow up, was acting nurturing and caring towards this infant. This was a far cry from the Naruto that he knew. The scene in front of him reminded Sasuke of that the lack of a bond that he had with his father. His dad never did any of this to him when he was a baby, only looking to and favoring Itachi for his skills. He felt a small pang in his chest, doing his best to push it away, not liking how it felt. Naruto grabbed a bottle that he had on the table and went to feeding the baby.

He was kinda jealous as he watched this scene, but he knew that he shouldn't tell Naruto to stop, especially since he was trying to get the boy to tell him who exactly this baby was. Getting on Naruto's bad side right now was the worst thing that Sasuke can do. He went back to thinking just who this kid might be. The way Naruto nurtured the kid, the way that he was so soft with her and so kind… Sasuke knew that there was only one possibility of what this kid was.

Naruto looked back to Sasuke, knowing that he was surely gonna regret this. He couldn't hide this from Sasuke. This kid was stubborn and would surely go and tell someone about this if he didn't tell him. Naruto didn't want to kiss up to Sasuke, but if he had no other choice, he would do it to keep his daughter in his life. He sighed at him, "Sasuke… meet Naomi Uzumaki… my adopted daughter."

Sasuke stood there, shocked to his very center. Even if it seemed to be so by the small little interaction that the two had just now, it was still shocking to the Uchiha. Since when the hell did Naruto have an adopted daughter? How did he manage to keep this a secret from everyone? Sasuke had so many questions that he wanted answered before he went crazy from the mindfuck.

Sasuke processed the revelation as best as he can, doing his best to not shout out 'no fucking way' as loud as he could. He was an Uchiha. Uchiha's didn't do that. They calmly asked what they wanted to know and didn't take no for an answer. He pointed to Naomi, "This is your… daughter?" he asked Naruto, needing to hear his confirmation again to be absolutely sure.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I found her alone in the woods. You know, that day I asked you and Sakura to hang out to increase our team bond?" he seemed to emphasize that part, trying to strike some kind of emotion into Sasuke. Naruto smirked. "I should be thanking you for turning me down."

Sasuke seemed surprised at that. "Oh…explain to me why?"

Naruto laughed at the Uchiha. "It's because of you and Sakura pushing me away that day that I went into the woods and found Naomi. I'm, in a really weird and messed up way, grateful to you for that. You gave me a daughter. Someone to love me and someone for me to love back. I now know what it feels like to have a family." He shot a pointed look towards Sasuke, remembering all of the times that the Uchiha made fun of Naruto for not having a family.

Sasuke hardened at that, being reminded that he didn't have one anymore. Would it be a good idea to tell Naruto that he still couldn't understand him and how he felt? Probably not; Sasuke was a jerk, but he wasn't a complete asshole about things. He settled more for a nod, "Good for you, dobe."

"Now that you got your answers, Sasuke, I have to ask you something." Naruto grew really serious and appeared to be somewhat desperate, something Sasuke never thought he would see from the blonde. "Please don't tell anyone about Naomi."

Sasuke blinked, leaning against the doorframe that was still opened. "And why is that?"

Naruto gave him a look that pretty much said 'Think about it dumbass' before he gestured to his baby, who was cuddling in her daddy's chest. "I'm still a kid. If word gets out that I have a daughter, someone might try and take her away from me."

"Like who?" Sasuke could hear the fear that was growing on Naruto's voice. This was probably the only time that Sasuke saw Naruto truly scared of something. It made sense though. He obviously saw Naomi as his real daughter. If she was taken from him, then he would be crushed. It was every parent's worst nightmare to lose their kids. Sasuke lowered his head slightly. It was also the child's fear to lose their parents.

"The Hokage might see me as too young and take her from me and put her in the orphanage."

"No offense, but that's probably what you should've done in the first place." Sasuke threw out the obvious truth.

Naruto glared. "Why?"

"This kid-"

"Has a name!" Naruto growled. He told Sasuke what his kid's name was. There wasn't a reason he should be calling it 'this kid' or 'that kid'. It reminded Naruto of the names the villagers called him. 'Demon', 'that boy', 'brat', etc. He wouldn't let his little girl be identified the way others thought of him.

Sasuke sighed, "Fine. Naomi," he made sure Naruto heard him, drawing out the name longer then normal. "Is gonna give you more trouble then what its worth. Like you said, you're a kid. You shouldn't have to be dealing with dirty diapers and bottles and all of that. You're a ninja of Konoha. Focus on your training instead of what necessities the baby needs. Just bring her to the orphanage."

Naruto darkened at Sasuke when he mentioned the orphanage again, wanting so badly to punch Sasuke out his door for mentioning it. He already knew what was gonna happen if he brought Naomi there. She was gonna get hurt everyday, possibly killed since he would be the one bringing her. No, he wouldn't let that happen. "I won't bring her there." His voice said that he wasn't leaving room for any argument.

Sasuke decided to argue anyway. "Why? What's so bad about that place?"

Naruto laughed darkly, "Well… they kicked me out at five, forcing the Hokage to buying this apartment for me." Sasuke was shocked, successfully hiding his small gasp that he felt coming up. "And they said if they see me there again, they'll kill me." He looked to his daughter. "What do you think will happen if I bring Naomi there?"

Sasuke knew where he was going with this and he was shocked at what he was hearing. He knew people didn't like Naruto for what ever reason, but to say they'll kill him if they see him again was a bit much. The seriousness of Naruto's face however showed that he was completely serious with what he just said, so Sasuke couldn't say he was lying. Plus, this wasn't something that should be lied about in the first place.

Naruto continued, "I love her Sasuke. I really do. I don't wanna give her up to that place, or to anyone. I want her here, in my house, with me. And if you wanna tell anyone…" Naruto set his baby back on the floor to play with her bunny before he got into a fighting pose. "You'll have to fight me."

Sasuke knew Naruto was rash, but to this extreme? The look in his face pretty much said that he'll fight Sasuke until he dies to keep his daughter with him. How did Sasuke respond to this? After hearing what the dobe said about the orphanage, Sasuke kinda agreed with him about not sending Naomi there, not knowing how bad things might get for them. Sasuke had no doubt that he could beat Naruto in a fight, having proven many times over who the better ninja was. But the determination and the confidence in his eyes showed Sasuke that if they did fought; Naruto would give him a challenge.

And for what exactly? Sasuke wouldn't get anything out of winning the fight. If he sent Naruto's daughter away, the boy in orange would genuinely despise and hate him forever. While that didn't sound too bad in Sasuke's ears, he didn't want to have his teammate, someone he was stuck with for awhile, hate him forever. He didn't want the extra drama in his life, wanting to solely focus on his goals as a ninja and getting revenge on Itachi. He couldn't do that if Naruto snuck into his compound at night and tried to kill him.

Sasuke sighed, "I'm not gonna fight you." He said, brushing a lock of his hair out of his face. "You must be doing something right as a parent…" he noted.

Naruto relaxed his pose slightly, "Why is that?"

"She's still alive."

Naruto almost faceplanted into the ground at that one. Did Sasuke just make a joke? And if he did, goddamn Sasuke Uchiha just made a joke! He would forever look back to this and use this information against Sasuke if he could. It wasn't every day that the brooding emo Sasuke Uchiha made a joke.

"Yeah, I see that."

Naomi started to notice that someone other then her dad was here, not giving Sasuke any of her attention. They both locked eyes, black meeting black, and instantly, Naomi started to move to him. Sasuke of course felt awkward at seeing an infant crawl over to him. He thought about moving away, but then Naruto would get pissed at him for ignoring his daughter.

Naomi crawled for a little bit, moving one arm and then one leg to move closer to the ever confused and awkward Uchiha. He shut Naruto's door so the kid didn't accidently crawl out, and watched with his usual boring stare as the kid grabbed onto his foot. She definitely wasn't one of those babies that got scared around everyone, that's for sure. Her giggle reached Sasuke's ears, the innocent sound of the baby's laugh almost making him smile.

"I think she likes you," Naruto seemed to be visually annoyed by that. "You don't need anymore fangirls. I don't want my daughter up your ass all day like every other women in this village does. I won't be surprised if one day all the men just go gay since no women wants to be with anyone but you."

Sasuke found the blonde's joke to be funny, but didn't laugh for the sake of his image of toughness and broodiness. He was also somewhat offended that Naruto didn't want his daughter to like him.

"Pick her up," Naruto motioned. He normally would never let Sasuke anywhere near Naomi, the stuck-up Uchiha being the last person Naruto ever wanted to find out about Naomi. But his daughter seemed to want Sasuke to pick her up, doing that cute little thing that she did with holding her arms up and a stream of gurgles passing her lips. "But I warn you, drop her and I'll drop you out my window… face first."

Sasuke sweatdropped at Naruto's threat. He wasn't an idiot. He could hold a baby. If Naruto was taking care of her for a week and the kid was still breathing and well, he could easily pick her up and hold her. Bending down, his pale arms grabbed Naomi by the armpits, bringing her up closer to his face. Now that he really looked at her, he knew that there was something familiar about her. They did kinda look alike, what with the black eyes and raven hair, but that's probably just a coincidence.

Naomi grabbed him by his cheek and pulled on his skin, Sasuke resisting the urge to say ow.

"Ha-ha," Naruto laughed. "That's my girl; beat the teme up for Daddy."

"What kind of parent encourages this kind of behavior?" Sasuke asked, not making a move to stop the baby from pulling on his skin.

Naomi giggled, "Teme." She repeated her father, Sasuke's eye twitching and glaring at Naomi's laughing father, desperately wanting to roast him alive with a fireball.

"You taught her how to say teme?"

Naruto shook his head, "She just likes to repeat some stuff I say. When I found her, I said that she looked like you and I said you were a teme and she repeated me. She also says 'Dada', 'Papa', and she just recently learned how to say 'ramen'!" Naruto looked so damn proud of Naomi for that last one. "Go on, Naomi, say ramen for Uncle Sasuke."

"Uncle!" she looked so excited about that, almost as energetic with that word as she was with 'papa' or 'dada'. She stopped pulling Sasuke's cheek, much to the Uchiha's delight. "Uncle!"

"Congratulations," Naruto teased. "You are now dubbed 'Uncle' by Naomi Uzumaki. How do you feel about that?"

Sasuke sighed, "Way better then being called 'teme' by the entire Uzumaki family. 'Uncle' isn't too bad, I guess." He shrugged, still holding Naomi and seemingly enjoying it, almost like if he was meant to hold her. Sasuke hasn't felt this relaxed in a long time, roughly five years or so since Itachi massacred the family. Of course he would never tell Naruto that, the knucklehead would never let him live it down, but what he didn't know couldn't hurt him.

"Are you gonna tell anyone?" Naruto went on edge again; ready to strike Sasuke if he gave an answer he didn't like. Even if Sasuke seemed to like Naomi, Naruto still had to be careful or else Sasuke could easily take her to the orphanage himself right now. He was holding her and was by the door after all, even if it was closed.

"Not if you do me two favors." Sasuke said. Naruto sighed. He should've seen this coming. Nodding reluctantly, he continued. "Tell Kakashi about her,"

"Why?" Naruto's question came out as soon as the words left Sasuke's mouth.

"If you don't tell him, he'll eventually find out himself and if that happens, things will get really bad for you. And what happens if we have to leave the village for a mission? What're you gonna do when that comes about?"

Naruto thought about that once before he dismissed it away as nothing important, figuring he cross that bridge when he got there. But now that he heard it coming from Sasuke, he honestly didn't know what to do now. If Kakashi knew, one of two things would happen. The man would either accept and help or he'll take Naomi away from him. It was risky situation, one Naruto didn't want to deal with, but if Kakashi agreed to help, and then Naruto could get some help with finding a babysitter.

And whether he would admit it or not, he wanted some help with Naomi; getting stuck sometimes on what to do with her.

"What about Sakura?" Naruto asked, remembering their female teammate. "If we tell Kakashi, it's only fair that we tell her too, right?"

Sasuke shrugged, moving his face away when Naomi went to grab it again. "That's up to you. All I'm saying is that it's smart if you tell Kakashi. Things will get easier for you if you do. Tell you what; I'll help you introduce her to the team if you want."

"Why are you offering to help me?" Naruto was honestly confused by the switch in Sasuke's personality.

"Because this kid seems important to you, and if she's gone from your life… you'll become an ass and I don't wanna deal with a dark and brooding teammate."

Naruto smirked at the irony. "I deal with it everyday."

Sasuke ignored him. "So you'll do it?"

Naruto didn't want to, not liking the possibilities that appeared. But if he didn't, then Sasuke might do something stupid and tell Kakashi anyway, and then he'll really be screwed. If something happened to Naomi, Sasuke would feel it everyday from him. "Yeah."

"And the second favor… I wanna help with her." He looked away, completely embarrassed by what he was saying.

Naruto slowly formed a grin. "Does Sasuke like my daughter?" he teased, moving closer to poke the Uchiha in the cheek. Sasuke, irritated, handed him back Naomi. "She's adorable, ain't she?"

"Much better then the other Uzumaki around here, for sure." Sasuke countered, still looking embarrassed by the way that the favor came out. He did like the girl, liking the sense of relaxation he got when he held her. He wanted more of that and if Naruto got less annoying and more serious because of Naomi in his life, he didn't want that to change and go back.

"I would take offense to that, but I know you like my daughter, so I'll let it go."

"Bring her tomorrow and we'll tell Kakashi about her."

"And Sakura," Naruto added. "It's only fair that she knows too."

Sasuke shrugged, opening the door and taking a step out.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called before he got out of sight. The young teen looked back, Naruto giving him a smile and thumbs up. "Thank you."

Sasuke sighed before he smiled, more like smirked, back and waved him off. "Whatever." He walked away, now planning to start his goals for the day.

Naruto looked to Naomi, who was looking back at him. "Looks like you got an uncle now." He said, happy that his daughter had someone else in her life but him, even if it was Sasuke. "Let's just hope that Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan like and accept you too…"

…

"She is so cute!"

Sakura obviously liked Naomi, bombarding her the moment Naruto and Sasuke finished with their story on the girl. Kakashi was looking at them with a look they couldn't decipher. Naruto told them about how he found her, how he was taking care of her, and how Sasuke found out, which the young Uchiha explained from his point of view soon after.

Now Naruto was waiting for Kakashi's reaction to the baby. Sakura stole her from him and started saying a bunch of stuff to her about how cute she was, how adorable she was, and so on and so forth. Sasuke liked it. It got Sakura's mind off of him for once.

"You said you found her in the woods?" Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded. "In the woods here?" Again, Naruto nodded. "Did it ever occur to you that this baby can be a way for someone outside the village to storm in here and accuse us of stealing the kid?"

Naruto knew something like this was gonna happen, making a mental note to kick Sasuke's pale ass later. He needed to calm Kakashi down before Naruto lost the fight. "I didn't sense anyone else around, sensei. She was alone left in a basket. I didn't know what to do, so I took her out of there before a bear got to her or something."

"And that's really honorable of you, Naruto." Kakashi praised. "But this could all be a set-up for someone to come here and get Konoha in a lot of trouble."

"No one is gonna come," Naruto said. "She was alone."

"No offense Naruto but you're not exactly the sharpest crayon in the box," Naruto's eye twitched at that while Sasuke smirked. "Someone could've hid around you and you could've missed them."

"You're getting paranoid sensei!" Naruto sounded desperate. "She was alone. I promise. If someone wanted to use her, they would've gotten here by now. I took her in and I promised to raise her. If anyone comes here and asks for her back… I'll tell them about the misunderstanding and I'll give her back… no arguments."

Kakashi could hear the small sob that came with that last phrase. He could easily see that Naruto cared a great deal for the little girl, as it's shown by his decision to take her into his own home; but he didn't want her out of his life. Naruto would probably be destroyed if that was to happen. He's been through enough already. He shouldn't be filling his head with worst-case scenarios. Maybe he was being a little paranoid, but who could blame him?

"Very well then," he sighed before eye-smiling. "Congrats on the kid, Naruto." He gave him a pat on the back.

"She's adorable, Naruto." Sakura was absolutely entranced by Naomi's cuteness as much as Naruto was. She was also slightly surprised by Naruto's maturity about the whole thing, never seeing him act mature once since she known him. She still found him annoying, but this definitely scored him so points in her eyes. And not to mention that if the baby was still alive, Naruto must be doing a good job as a parent.

Naruto grinned in agreement, "She takes after her old man." He puffed his chest out with pride.

Sakura shook her head, "Nope." Naruto fell over. "She takes after her uncle," she looked over to Sasuke dreamily, whom was now annoyed that Sakura went back into fangirl mode to him; preferring her adoring Naomi over him. "Doesn't she look like you, Sasuke-kun?"

"Eh." Sasuke shrugged. So he wasn't the only one who thought that.

Naruto whined, "That's mean Sakura-chan."

Naomi laughed at her daddy's expense. "Daddy." She held her arms out for Naruto to take her.

"She is so cute," Sakura cooed to her, handing the baby over to Naruto. Naomi looked back over to Sakura though.

"Mommy."

All four members of Team 7 froze at the new word that came out of Naomi's mouth. She just called Sakura mommy. The pinkette didn't have any respond to that other then an open mouth. Little Naomi just called her mommy. Sakura didn't feel offended or awkward about that. In fact, she felt happy and wanted to smile, but the shock was keeping her from doing so.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto thought she would get angry about Naomi calling her mom. "She didn't mean too. She calls everyone a name. She calls Sasuke uncle, me daddy, and she called Kakashi-sensei grandpa."

It was true. When they first got here, Naomi saw Kakashi and called him grandpa. Naruto never mentioned that word to her before, so her blood parents probably said that word around her when they still had her. Kakashi didn't take offense to it, but found it really weird to be called grandpa by a baby.

Sakura eased his nervousness, feeling a little offended that Naruto would assume that she would get mad. Of course from their past experiences, she guess she couldn't blame the guy. "Its okay, Naruto. Really, it's fine." 'I kinda like being called mommy.'

Kakashi interrupted the little moment. "Well… anyway, we have to get our mission for the day. Naruto, bring Naomi home and meet us at the mission office."

Naruto nodded, "Okay."

This was just the start to the family that Team 7 would form. And neither of them knew it started with their next mission. On this next mission, bonds with Naomi would grow and much drama and pain awaited them.

And it all starts with a drunk bridge builder.

End of Chapter 5 of The Fox's Cub

So, yeah all of Team 7 found out, but Sasuke found out first.

I have a lot planned with Naomi's birth parents. They will show up at some point, but you'll be shocked as all hell when they reveal themselves.

We start Wave next time. Get ready.

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 1


	6. The Land of Waves Part 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **73 reviews, 61 favorites, and 87 alerts. Thank you all for that accomplishment. Can I ask to reach 100 reviews before chapter 10? Together, we can do it.**

**Now we start the Wave arc. Much awaits Team 7 and Naomi. When do you all think we'll see Naomi's parents… her real ones, not Naruto and Team 7? **

**Enjoy**

Chapter 6- The Land of Waves Part 1

"Is the target in sight?" Kakashi spoke into the microphone, awaiting his team to respond to him. They were on a mission that Kakashi knew his team would despise and get mad at him for. The dreaded mission that he heard was the bane of all of Konoha genin teams. Searching for Tora the Cat.

"Yes," Sasuke responded into his mic, leaning against the base of a tree with his head stuck out and observing the cat.

"When I give you the signal, go ahead and try and grab it." Kakashi commanded.

"Yes sensei," Sakura nodded, hiding in a bush; waiting for the signal.

"Ready?"

Naruto nodded from his position by the base of his tree. "Yes."

"Go!"

The three genin leaped from their spots, arms fully extended to grab the cat. Tora seemed to know they were coming and dodged both Sasuke and Sakura's attempts to grab him, both genin falling to the ground in a thud. Naruto managed to grab the cat though, the feline furball clawing at his face, the blonde genin doing his best to hold the little monster at bay.

"Does it have a red ribbon on its right ear?" Kakashi asked, dreading if they would still need to keep looking.

Sasuke looked over at the cat attacking Naruto and examined the right ear, spotting the ribbon on its ear. "Affirmative, Tora the cat has been captured." He lazily confirmed.

Kakashi nodded, "Alright. Mission complete. Good job guys."

"You call this a good job!" Naruto shouted through his mic, Kakashi's ear blazing from how loud the blonde yelled into his microphone. Naruto's face was being viciously attacked by the damn cat, the claws digging into his cheeks. Sakura giggled at his misfortune, Naruto not finding it to be funny in the slightest. "It's not funny Sakura-chan!"

"It kinda is," she defended herself.

"Get this damn cat off of me!" Naruto's yells echoed through the woods.

…

'Yeah, that's right. Smoother that cat to death.' Naruto was taking extreme pride and pleasure in seeing the cat smothered by its owner. If Naruto ever saw that cat again, he was gonna kill it slowly and painfully.

"I kinda feel bad for it," Sakura said while staring at the cat, which was trying to escape the grip of its owner. "At least we know now why it ran away." She chuckled lightly.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but was in the same boat as Naruto and was taking pride in seeing that cat being smothered to death. He wouldn't ever take this mission again and if he ever saw that cat outside of his job, he knew what he would have for dinner that night.

Sarutobi looked over his list of missions, "For Team 7's next mission, we have grocery shopping, picking up weeds from gardens, babysitting Mr. Kurosaki's ba-"

"No!" Naruto held his hands out in an x shape. "I'm tired of doing all of these stupid and boring missions. Can't we get something more exciting to do?"

'He has a point,' Sasuke agreed.

'I actually agree with him,' Sakura was stunned.

'I'm gonna be hearing about this later.' Kakashi sweatdropped, mentally preparing himself for the lecture he was sure to get from the Hokage about Naruto's behavior.

Iruka slammed his palms on the table. "Naruto! You're just a new genin with no experience! Until you get the experience that you need, you'll stick with D-Rank missions."

"But their so boring. Can't someone else do them? We're too good for these missions." Naruto sat on the ground with his arms folded by his chest, looking quite stubborn at the fact that they might be getting another boring mission.

'Yep, I'm definitely gonna hear about this later.' Kakashi dully thought.

Sarutobi sighed, "Naruto, you guys are just recently graduated genin. Until you do a certain amount of missions, you'll do D-Rank missions. Once you do enough and get enough experience, then you'll get C-Rank missions. From there, once you become chunin you'll get B-Rank and then once you become jonin, you'll get A and S-Rank missions. But like I said, since you're recently graduated genin, you'll stick with D-Rank missions." He looked and saw that neither Naruto nor his team was paying any attention to him.

"Naomi really likes her toy bunny," Naruto was telling his team about his daughter and her favorite toy. "I'm thinking about getting something else for her. Maybe a doll…"

"Naruto!" Iruka's loud voice interrupted his little monologue. "How dare you disrespect the Hokage by ignoring him! You'll stay with these D-Rank missions until you are ready."

Naruto glared, "But I'm not the same kid that used to paint the monument and pull pranks. I am now a ninja of Konoha and I want a ninja mission. Please, jiji? We can handle ourselves fine."

Sarutobi looked over to Kakashi, "Well Kakashi… do you think that their ready for a harder mission?"

Kakashi seemed to think about it before he shrugged. "I've seen them in action and I do think that they are ready for a more difficult mission." His team's anger at him for the dreaded Tora mission was now replaced with gratefulness.

Sarutobi nodded, "Please send the client in." he asked his ANBU, who nodded and went to bring him in. Sarutobi folded his hands under his chin, "Now that that's settled, Naruto," the blonde looked back at him. "Who is this Naomi you were speaking of before?"

Team 7's eyes widened, well… Naruto's and Sakura's did. Kakashi and Sasuke were just calling Naruto an idiot in their thoughts. He shouldn't have been talking about his daughter that he wanted to keep secret in a room where there were people listening to every word he said. Naruto looked around for some help, pleading silently for one of his teammates to get him out of this mess.

It was Sakura that came to his rescue. "Naomi is Naruto's new girlfriend." Sasuke slammed his palm into his face, knowing just how bad this was gonna end up. Kakashi was doing his bad to not laugh at Naruto's shocked face and the blonde was, as Kakashi just said, shocked. "They are happy together."

Iruka grinned at him, "Atta boy. Good job, Naruto. I'm proud of you."

Naruto wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to this. What did he say? He couldn't say that Sakura wasn't telling the truth or else Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji would ask him who Naomi really was. He wasn't ready for them to know about her. Hell, he didn't even want his team to know, but Sasuke managed to talk him into it. So, doing what he thought might work, he simply nodded at Iruka with his mouth hung open.

Sarutobi chuckled, "I guess you are growing up, Naruto."

Naruto nodded slowly at the old man.

The door opened slowly, an old man stumbling his way in. He had a beer bottle in his hand and a dark look in his lost eyes, no doubt from the beer in his hand. His eyes, which were also hidden by his glasses, were looking over the team. He scoffed; "This is the team?" he scoffed. "They all look weak, especially the short one with the stupid look on his face."

Naruto laughed; "Who's the short one with the stupid look on his face?" he looked between Sasuke, Sakura and himself. Both of his teammates lined up next to him, Naruto examining the height difference. He slumped when he realized that he was the short one of the bunch, narrowing his eyes dangerously at the man in front of him. He lunged forward, "I'm gonna beat the crap outta you!"

Kakashi held Naruto by his collar, sighing at the blonde ninja. "Naruto you can't attack the client. That kinda destroys the purpose of the mission."

The man scoffed at the display, "I am Tazuna, master bridge builder. You are to escort me back to my home, The Wave Country. I am building a super bridge and you are to guard me while I finish it."

Naruto glared at the man, "Whatever."

Kakashi sighed, "Since this is our first C-Rank mission, we'll be leaving the village. Pack up supplies for around two weeks."

Naruto paled. 'Wait… two weeks? Who's gonna watch Naomi!?'

"We'll meet tomorrow at the gates of the village. Be there around 7am."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded at the jonin. Naruto grabbed the Cyclops by the shoulder before he could leave. "Sensei?" Kakashi raised his eye in confusion. "Can I talk to you… privately?"

The copy-nin looked at the other two genin, both shrugging at him. So they didn't know what Naruto was gonna talk to him about, huh? The look in the blonde's eyes was begging for the jonin sensei to listen to him. Kakashi never seen Naruto use a begging look before, so this outta be good. The man nodded at the younger boy, who grinned in victory before practically dragging him out of the room.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at the door where their teammates exited, both looking really confused. They stood there in silence for a second before Sakura turned to Sasuke. "What do you think Naruto is asking Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke thought about what Naruto could possibly be asking the man. Naruto didn't have anymore secrets to talk about or at least none that Sasuke knew of. He already told the man about Naomi, what else is left to talk about?

Oh! Sasuke just figured it out.

He gestured for Sakura to follow him, knowing that he couldn't talk about this in front of people that didn't know who Naomi was. Sakura already painted the wrong picture to the Hokage and Iruka. If he talked about this, they would figure out that she lied and pester them for the truth of who Naomi was and if they did that, and if they accidently revealed who Naomi was, Naruto would kill him.

Sakura took his invitation the wrong way, going into a squeal fest while Sasuke led her out of the building. Did Sasuke finally decide that he wanted to go out with her? If he did, then she finally done it. She finally got her man!

Sasuke exited the door to the mission office, Sakura practically dragging her feet behind him with a dreamy look on her face. Sasuke stopped when he figured that they were out of listening reach between most people. Sakura stopped, "Where are we going, Sasuke-kun? Are we finally having that date that we thought about for so long?"

Sasuke resisted the strong urge that he had to slam his head against the wall. "No." he crushed her dreams for the sixth time this week. "I think I know why Naruto needed to talk to Kakashi in private." When Sakura didn't seem to follow him, he sighed. "We're gonna be gone for two weeks. Who's gonna watch Naomi in those two weeks?"

Sakura finally understood. "Doesn't Naruto have anyone that can watch her? Any friends or something that can do him this favor?"

Sasuke, once again, slammed his palm against his face. Did Sakura really not pay any attention to Naruto that she didn't know that the kid didn't have any friends or family at all? If Naruto had people that could watch his daughter, then he wouldn't have needed to talk to Kakashi in the first place. He talked them out of convincing him to tell the Hokage about her, his fear of her getting sent to the orphanage taking hold during that conversation. Sasuke was the only one that knew why he was acting worried, as Naruto hadn't actually come out and say why he couldn't tell the Hokage yet, giving Kakashi and Sakura the excuse that he wanted to make sure the story was foolproof before telling the Hokage.

Sakura was confused when Sasuke slammed his hand against his face again. Didn't Naruto have a plan to have someone watch Naomi whenever they had to do missions? That was part of the job of being a parent. To always make sure that your baby was taken care for when you had to run some errands or do your job. Naruto was a good parent to Naomi from what she saw of their interaction. He gave her love and she seemed to love him back, always smiling and giggling at him and calling for him. Naruto was a good daddy, she thought. But he still showed his signs of immaturity. Not making sure Naomi always had someone watching her was one of them.

She always seemed to smile every time that she thought of the baby. She was just so cute and so adorable with almost everything that she did. Her giggle made Sakura giggle when she thought of it. And the baby called her mommy. Sakura thought that was so adorable, but she also seemed to like being called mommy. It kinda confused her since she was only twelve-years old and shouldn't even be thinking about being any sort of parental figure. She should be focusing on her ninja career and how she was gonna get Sasuke to spend time with her.

The baby that she only known for a few hours was slowly becoming someone she really cared about. A strong bond was already being planted into the ground and Sakura would gladly watch and nurture the root until it surely grew as big as Sakura felt it could be. Plus, someone had to help Naruto with her or else he might do something stupid. He might be more mature and more tolerable, but he was still an idiot in some ways.

Sasuke sighed, rubbing his nose. "No, Naruto doesn't have any friends at all. He's been having his clones watch her for the week because no one else can do it. If we have to leave for two weeks, and if there's no one to watch Naomi, I see two things happening."

"And they are?" Sakura asked.

"One: Naruto stays back and keeps an eye on her, which I doubt will happen. Two: We-"

"Guys!" Naruto came running from the corner of the building, Kakashi slowly trailing behind him, his hands dug in his pocket while sighing loudly, apparently regretting something. Naruto looked so damn happy. "Naomi's coming with us to The Land of Waves!"

"And there's option two." Sasuke said to Sakura, who looked really dumbfounded.

"What?" she looked to Kakashi, who still looked like he regretted something, which was most likely his answer to Naruto about Naomi coming with them to The Land of Waves. "Is that smart?"

"Nope," Kakashi shook his head. "And I told this idiot that many times." He pointed his finger to Naruto, who didn't seem to care that he was just called an idiot. "It's completely stupid to bring a baby on a C-Rank mission. He won't listen to reason. What if something happens to the baby," he looked to Naruto, hoping that this time he would listen. He only told him yes to get him to shut up. "You would never forgive yourself for that."

"Sensei is right, Naruto." Sakura placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, the blonde feeling a jolt in his shoulder. "If something did happen to Naomi, you wouldn't let it go. You would stay guilty forever."

Naruto frowned, "Come on, guys. Sensei said that the worse we will run into are bandits and other travelers. Naomi is perfectly fine with all of us there guarding her. Plus…" his voice trailed off. "She's safer with me then here in the village."

Sasuke and Kakashi knew what he meant, Kakashi more so then Sasuke. The villagers weren't exactly kind to Naruto. Kakashi didn't know how many times Naruto's apartment was 'accidently' vandalized. Broken windows, smashed glass, and other vandalism were involved. If he left Naomi here for two weeks, she could get really hurt if someone did something stupid. Kakashi knew it was stupid and if someone found out what he was doing, he would be a laughing stock, but… if Naruto was deadest on bringing a baby on a C-Rank mission, he knew that he had to bring the kid.

What was the worse that can happen? He was one of the top jonin of the village. He could protect a baby from groups of bandits. Plus, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would gladly throw down to protect the baby from anyone that threatened her. If was up to him, he would probably get Guy or someone to protect the kid while they were away, but this was Naruto's kid. She was his responsibility and it was because of that that made her a target if someone figured it out. Naruto was smart to try and hide her for as long as he could before Sasuke found out. He owed the boy at least this, not being able to completely help him in his childhood like he promised Minato-sensei. He wouldn't tell anyone about Naomi and he would help to protect her on this mission.

Sakura blinked, "How is she not safe in the village? The people here are nice. I'm sure you can find someone to watch Naomi."

"No," Sasuke shook his head. "Naruto can't. If people find out about her, especially the orphanage, then they'll-"

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto glared. "Might wanna shut up and stay quiet?" he was now wishing he can go back in time and just make sure that he didn't give Sasuke a reason to follow him and discover Naomi. Ever since the Uchiha found out about the baby, things just really got worse then they were before he did.

The Uchiha frowned, but didn't say anything else, figuring it'd be smart to stay quiet when he gave him that look.

Sakura noticed the hesitation Naruto felt about talking about the orphanage and about what'll happen if people find out about his little girl. She was about to ask him why before Kakashi spoke up, "You're all dismissed. Naruto, make sure you bring Naomi to the village gates at ten. Sasuke, Sakura, be there at seven."

"Why does Naruto get to come three hours later?" Sakura whined.

"Because he has a baby." He waved. "Ja ne!" he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Team 7 looked to one another before they all left to their personal business, preparing for the mission ahead.

…

"Why is there a brat with you four?" Tazuna of course was confused and a little peeved that there was a baby with them.

Kakashi laughed nervously, "Long story. But anyway, she's joining us."

Naomi giggled in Naruto's arms, waving them over in Sakura's direction. "Mommy." She called for the kunochi, who happily took her from Naruto. Naomi giggled and cuddled into Sakura's chest, the pink-haired girl giving her a small kiss on the head.

Naruto looked to Sasuke, "Is it wrong I'm insanely jealous of my daughter?" he asked as the group of six started their walk to the Land of Waves.

Sasuke smirked, "You are so pathetic."

Tazuna, meanwhile, was feeling guilt. Now a baby was in danger because of him lying and keeping the truth to himself. If this baby died, the man was sure that he wouldn't be able to live with himself for it.

Two figures watched them from the trees. "That's them, brother?" the first one asked.

The second one nodded. "The old man is the target. Do whatever it takes to kill him."

"Hai."

End of Chapter 6 of The Fox's Cub

Yes, Naomi is joining them on the mission. Talk about plot-twist. The reason I had that is because Naruto is still scared of telling a lot of people about her in fear of her being taken from him. And plus, if he knew the true stakes of the mission, he would probably suck it up and tell someone else. But that's not the case here; Naomi will still join them after they find out the truth, at the expense of an emotional Naruto begging Kakashi to let her stay. You'll see that next time.

I'll also add another member to Zabuza and Haku's team so its not the usual cliché of them fighting those two over and over again.

And how would you feel about an original arc after this and before the exams that shows Team 7 plus others going to save Naomi from some kidnappers? Let me know if you wanna see that.

And to the guess that left the review of Naruto cursing and Naomi repeating him, you made my day. That is funny as hell. I'll definitely do that.

And I am planning another Naruto fanfic. One that will be about Naruto going into Kyuubi mode in front of Teams 7, 8, Guy, and 10 before the timeskip. Where exactly in the timeline, I would say that its around the time they come back from The Land of Waves and Naruto gets angry when insults are thrown too far from the other teams, minus his own. It'll be a NaruSaku fanfic with some NaruHina and NaruIno thrown in.

And something about this fic, when they come back from the Land of Waves and the other teams find out about Naomi, we are looking at some one-sided NaruHina and NaruIno and a jealous Sakura. You'll all love it and don't worry. I am promising you that this will end as NaruSaku. Nothing else.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 2


	7. The Land of Waves Part 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **92 reviews, 72 favorites, 107 follows. Hot damn, thank you guys for all of the support for this story. I'll be honest and say that I didn't know that this story would be going so well. I'm actually thinking of a couple more Naruto fics that I wrote down in my notebook. Not sure which I'll do next.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 7- The Land of Waves Part 2

A half a day traveling on the road found Team 7 and their client Tazuna walking along the dirt path out of Konoha and into The Land of Waves. Kakashi, of course, was looking bored with his hands tucked into his pockets, his one eye lazily scanning over the scenery and then the genin. Sasuke was strolling behind Tazuna, his hands tucked away in his pockets like Kakashi's were. Kakashi could tell that the young Uchiha was just itching to fight someone, wanting to test out his skills to see where he stood. Kakashi would need to make a note to himself to sit Sasuke down one day and explain to him why revenge isn't the way to go. The last thing that the world needed was two psycho Uchihas out there.

Naruto was standing near Sakura and Naomi, the baby being held safely by her dad. When Naruto first told them this morning about the baby, Kakashi was of course thinking about telling the Hokage about it. This was something that would definitely cause more problems for Naruto then the kid already had. And plus, the story just seemed a little weird to Kakashi. Who would leave a baby alone in the woods for anyone to take? A part of him was feeling stupid for agreeing to take this baby with them on this mission. Even if it was only C-Rank and the only threats they'll most likely encounter are bandits, Kakashi still thought that Naruto should've left the kid behind with someone else.

The biggest reason why was because he didn't want to see Naruto destroyed if something were to happen to her. Kakashi could tell just how much that blonde idiot loved the kid. He already knew Naruto's reaction if something were to happen. Naruto's been through too much for a kid his age. The poor boy didn't need guilt on his conscience on top of everything else. Kakashi sighed. If something did happen, Naruto could only blame himself for it.

Tazuna's facial expression caught Kakashi's attention. The older man occasionally looked from ahead of the path towards Naomi. The expression that underlined the man's face whenever he looked at the child was one that Kakashi could easily recognize as guilt. Why would the man be looking guilty whenever he looked at the child? Why did he look guilty in the first place?

It was then when Kakashi noticed that there was a puddle on the side of the road. His lone eye looked sideways toward it as he kept walking, not wanting to draw too much attention. It wasn't rained in a few days, possibly a week or two. Not even a cloud had been in sight all that much recently. The jonin sighed. Did these shinobi think they were fooling anyone? Well, by the looks on his genin's faces; whoever it was in the puddle sure fooled them.

Looking again at Naomi, Kakashi thought of the chance of the baby getting hurt in this possible upcoming fight between his team and the shinobi in the puddle. This is exactly why Naruto should've just left her back in the village. He didn't know who could be in this puddle, although they couldn't be all that smart for using such a dumb trick; but their fighting skills were still unknown to Kakashi. Having a plan in mind, he motioned for Naruto to come closer. The blonde was confused but made his way over to Kakashi anyway. The jonin eye-smiled at him, "Mind if I hold Naomi for a bit?"

Naruto's confused look seemed to dissipate once he heard Kakashi say that, a smirk forming onto his face. He handed his adopted daughter over to Kakashi. "You can't resist her cuteness, can you Kakashi-sensei?" he asked.

Kakashi didn't answer him, only grabbing the baby, whom proceeded to try and pull his mask down. Kakashi ignored the cute act and increased his guard, knowing he had to act fast if something were to happen. As if on cue, two chains shot out of the puddle and went to encircle him. Using his speed, he substituted with a log and henged it to look like him. He and Naomi were safe in the trees as he watched the henged log sliced into two, his genin looking on in shock and fear.

Except for Naruto. Kakashi watched as the boy stood there and watched the two enemy ninja come after him, his breathing getting faster and his hands balling at his sides. He was angry; really angry. Kakashi figured this would be the lesson that he needed to show him what happens when you bring a baby on a mission. Kakashi only felt bad that he, for now anyway, saw his daughter 'ripped' to pieces.

He would apologize for that later… if the lesson sunk into the blonde's head, which Kakashi was seventy-percent sure it would, and thirty percent it wouldn't. Naruto was still a stubborn blockhead from time to time. Kakashi knew that after this, they were turning around and bringing the kid back to Konoha.

…

Naruto's anger reached places he never thought could reach. After handing Kakashi-sensei Naomi, the two were then ripped to pieces by two bursts of chains that shot out of that puddle on the side of the road. Naruto saw the two enemy ninja coming after him with their chains, but didn't make a move to get out of the way.

No… these guys were gonna pay. They were gonna pay for what they just did.

Jumping into the air to avoid the two ninja, Naruto took out a kunai and threw it in the direction of the chest of one of the ninja. The kunai ricocheted off of the chain as the bastard brought by his chest to protect him. Naruto growled as he started falling back down to the earth. The second guy shot out his chain towards Naruto, the blonde not being able to defend himself due to being stuck in the air. Another kunai came out of the blue and impaled the guy's chain into a nearby tree.

Sasuke's hand was still outstretched as he glared hatefully at the two ninja. These bastards just up and killed a baby! A baby that couldn't even defend herself! Memories of the Uchiha Massacre flooded Sasuke's memory banks as he roundhouse kicked the other shinobi in the chin, still distracted by the kunai Naruto threw before. Said blonde landed on the ground and let out a mean left hook into the shinobi Sasuke just kicked, his anger clouding his mind.

The second shinobi Sasuke's kunai impaled on the tree clawed at Naruto, the jinchuriki having to be pulled away by Sasuke, but not before the claw graced Naruto's right hand. Sasuke quickly scooped up Naruto's discarded kunai as the Uchiha genius saw the first shinobi stirring and coming back to. He threw the kunai and impaled the spot next to his other kunai, both of the ninja now stuck on the tree.

Naruto glared. "You guys are dead… I'm going to kill you for what you did."

The first guy scoffed, "I like to see you try! We'll kill you and then the old man!" the kunais broke off of the tree and the two shinobi were ready to engage in another round with Naruto and Sasuke. But it was hard to fight when you were stomped on the skull really hard by a seasoned jonin. And to add insult to injury, the jonin was holding a baby.

Naruto's anger quickly vanished upon seeing that his daughter was alright. "Naomi-chan!" he bombarded Kakashi as he took the baby from his arms. "Daddy was so scared you were gone!" he hugged his daughter close to his chest as Sakura came running from the spot she was frozen in during Naruto and Sasuke's little rumble. It was only when Kakashi and Naomi reappeared that she broke out of the little trance.

Kakashi, before deciding to talk to Naruto, turned his head over to Tazuna, whom was sweating in nervousness. "Care to explain why this shinobi said he was gonna kill you? Because, from the mission description, we were only supposed to protect you from bandits, not," he kicked the enemies. "Chunin level missing-nin. These are The Demon Brothers."

Tazuna stuttered, "W-What do you mean?"

"I'm not deaf. I heard what this man said about going to kill my genin and then you. We didn't sign up for these circumstances. If you have shinobi coming after you, then this isn't a C-Rank, but a B-Rank borderline A-Rank mission."

"We're just genin," Sakura piped up. "This is too advanced for us."

"I guess it doesn't matter anyway," Kakashi shrugged. "We're going back to the village. Naruto…" the blonde stopped his pampering of Naomi to look at Kakashi. "You're bringing her back. That's an order." Before the jinchuriki could open his mouth, Kakashi held his hand up. "Look at what just happened here. If I wasn't around, then Naomi would be dead."

"But sensei…"

"But nothing!" he sternly countered. "Do you really wanna keep her along after what just happened? Do you want her to die?" Naruto shook his head, opening his mouth to counter the jonin. Kakashi, once again, held up his hand. "If you took the time to listen to me, then I would've been able to tell you that I know someone who can watch her while we're away. But you're too stubborn to listen to me."

Naruto looked down, "I promised though that I would take care of her and protect her. I promise though, she won't get hurt if she stays."

"Stop Naruto," Sasuke shook his head. "Just shut up and think for once. It was stupid to bring her here in the first place anyway. I know that you don't want her to get hurt. This time we got lucky, but what about the next time? What if we're not lucky?"

Sakura nodded. "You love her. She's important to you. You'll feel guilty if something happens to her."

"But-"

"Naruto… I promise you… this guy I know won't tell anyone. He'll keep it to himself."

Naruto didn't want to be away from Naomi, not trusting anyone to watch his little girl without him being there. He promised when he took her in, that he'll always protect her and give her what he never had. In a way, he felt that by leaving her with someone else, he'll be abandoning her and breaking his promise. He didn't have a whole lot of reasons to trust anyone with her, not having good experiences with people growing up. But, it was either take Kakashi's word, or run the chance of Naomi getting killed.

"I would choose soon," Kakashi spoke back up, confusing the three genin. "That claw had poison on it, and Naruto… it scraped your hand. If you don't get it out soon you will die."

Naruto's eyes widened, not even noticing that the claws had even came in contact with his skin. Before he decided to run around like an idiot, he calmly handed Sakura Naomi, and then he started running about screaming about how he can't die yet and that he still has so much to accomplish, making everyone around him sweatdrop at his behavior.

"We have to go back anyway for his hand. We'll drop Naomi off and then we'll…"

The sight of Naruto picking up one of the discarded kunai and stabbing his hand made Kakashi stop talking. More blood flowed out of the hand as Naruto winced in pain. His teammates gasped in shock as he raised his hand.

"Upon this wound, I make this pledge to protect Naomi. I will never let anything happen to her as long as I'm still standing. I will not let her down. I never go back on my word. That's my nindo, my ninja way."

Naruto had this small smirk on his face as the blood flowed down his hand, determination set in the blonde's eyes. He meant everything that he said and he would do anything to keep it. Kakashi couldn't help but feel some pride in his chest. Naruto reminded him so much of Minato-sensei that it kinda scared him. When the Fourth found out that Kushina was pregnant, he made a speech similar to Naruto's about how he'll do anything that he can do to protect and make his unborn child proud of him. Kakashi might've been stunned, but his decision still stood.

"Nice job on getting the poison out," the jonin complimented. "But if you don't stop the bleeding… you'll still die."

Naruto started shouting about how the world was against him and seemingly wanted him dead for some reason, as no matter what he did he still apparently faced the possibility of dying. Naomi was getting a kick out of watching her dad jump around and bounce like an idiot, imitating him and bouncing in Sakura's arms, the action getting a small smile out of the kunoichi.

Kakashi sighed. "Stop moving. Let me check it." Naruto stopped his running around and listened to his sensei, whining the question if he was gonna die. Kakashi looked at his hand and saw that the wound was already healing on its own, much to his amazement. 'This must be from the Kyuubi.' He noted.

"Am I gonna die?"

Kakashi proceeded to wrap up his hand. "Nah. You'll be fine." He said, the blonde genin jumping for joy. Kakashi looked around to Tazuna. "You do know that we don't have to continue this mission, right?" the old man nodded. "But… we'll escort you back to Wave Country since we're already almost there and then we'll decide what to do from there." He looked to Naruto, "And as for your problem… if we decide to continue with this mission, I'll send for someone to come and get her. And don't argue," he saw Naruto getting ready to give him a headache. "This is for the best." Naruto lowered his head and slowly nodded. "Alright, let's continue."

…

"The Demon Brothers failed!" a short man with a cane exclaimed to a much bigger pale man. "You said they would do the job. I'm starting to question whether or not I should even keep you around…"

The bigger man's large sword swung and stopped just a few inches short of the short man's neck. Behind the pale man were two more shinobi, one looking around the age of a teen and the other looking around to be that of a late-teen.

"I'll go myself and rest assure… this sword will be the last thing that he ever sees." A smirk formed behind the bandages around the guy's mouth. He pulled the sword back. "Those Demon Brothers are chumps compared to me."

"You better kill that old geezer, Zabuza." The short man warned. "Or you can say goodbye to your money."

"Calm down, Gato. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Gato growled before he and his goons behind him walked out of Zabuza's hideout. When the sound of the door closing stopped echoing from how hard the man shut it, he spoke. "I don't like that midget, but he has money, and that's all I care about." He looked to the two behind him. "Haku, I'll take Riku with me to take out the old man. Whoever he has as his bodyguard must be good enough to take out the brothers. You'll stay hidden and be ready to get us out of there if things go bad."

"Hai Zabuza-san." Haku nodded.

The other teen, now identified as Riku, sighed at Zabuza. "Why do you need to take me with you? I'm pretty sure that a powerful ninja like you can easily take out a feeble old man and his puny escorts." There was a mocking sense in his voice, finding the idea of someone like Zabuza needing his help to be funny.

Zabuza growled and raised the sword. "You wanna test me, boy? I don't think you do. You led me to Gato for the money; you're worthless to me now. Don't make me kill you."

Riku paled before nodding at the missing-nin. He just met Zabuza and Haku a month ago after they got into a fight over his supplies that they stole. Riku impressed Zabuza by managing to hit Haku while he was using his impressive speed. Sure he was nowhere near as strong as Haku, but the fact he kept up with him impressed Zabuza. And when the boy mentioned that he was bringing those supplies back to Gato and getting paid for it, Zabuza decided that he could use this kid as his contact to the old man. They didn't like each other though and probably never will.

Haku sighed at the behavior. "We're ready to go when you are, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza nodded, looking at Riku still to see if he made another wiseass comment. Smartly, he didn't and nodded alongside his companion for the job. Zabuza shouldered the giant blade.

"Here I come, old man. You better have said your goodbyes."

…

Tazuna had told Team 7 the story of his country while on the ride over to The Land of Waves. How Gato, the billionaire of Gato Industries, had managed to take over his country and bankrupt it, keeping almost all the money for himself and charging outrageous prices for the goods that were left in the country. So, being the good Samaritans they were, Kakashi and Team 7 agreed to finish the mission with the promise that the Wave Country pay for the full cost when back on its feet. Tazuna agreed to it, intending to do that anyway, he said. Kakashi would call for someone to get Naomi when they reached Tazuna's house, figuring it be stupid to wait out in the open for a day for someone to come.

Now Team 7 was in the woods of Wave, their guards now up after the previous encounter with The Demon Brothers. Sasuke was taking the rear with Kakashi taking lead. Naruto and Sakura taking the left and right respectively, Naomi safely in Sakura's arms, sleeping peacefully.

That peace didn't last long.

A giant sword was coming for them.

"Get down!" Kakashi ordered. Sasuke tackled Tazuna to the ground while Naruto and Sakura fell on their backs, Kakashi diving soon after. The sword encased itself on a tree bark, one figure jumping on the sword and another landing on the tree branch above. Kakashi saw that the bigger figure was shirtless and wearing bandages around his mouth and the smaller figure was wearing a crimson t-shirt with black shorts. His dark brown hair hung across his face as a mist headband donned his forehead, a slash down the middle like the other man. Kakashi recognized the two.

"Zabuza Momochi and I believe the boy is Riku Kurosaki. An A and B-Rank missing-nin from Kirigakure."

"You actually know us," Zabuza mocked. "I am surprised."

"Well you did stage an attack on the Mizukage and this one here," he gestured to Riku. "Killed his family before fleeing the village."

The similar tale between this Riku and Itachi made Sasuke's blood boil.

"No wonder the brothers failed. Kakashi of the Sharingan. It's an honor to meet you." Riku boasted.

"The feeling's mutual." Kakashi grew serious. "Naruto… Sasuke," both boys looked to their sensei, noting the seriousness of his tone. "I don't know how strong this Riku is. I need you two to fight him while I handle Zabuza. Sakura," the pinkette nodded. "Take Tazuna and Naomi and hide. This is gonna get ugly. We'll come find you when the job's done."

Sasuke cracked his knuckles, "Don't hold me back, dobe."

Naruto glared. "I was gonna say that to you."

Zabuza laughed, "You make it sound like you'll win."

Kakashi was already raising his headband. "Oh believe me… we will." A crimson eye with three black tomees was revealed, making Sasuke gasp in familiarity. "I'll tell you later, Sasuke; just focus on your fight."

Riku sighed, looking to his two opponents. "Let's move out of the way so these two can have fun. I'll need space while I'm pummeling you two into the ground." He smirked. "You guys don't even look strong."

Sasuke and Naruto's eyebrows twitched. "You'll regret saying that." Sasuke was hot on Riku's tail while the boy hopped through the trees. Before Naruto took off, he turned back to Sakura. "You'll keep my little girl safe?" Now he felt really stupid in bringing her here. He should've listened to Kakashi and told someone else. If they lived through this, he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Sakura nodded with a smile. "With my life. Go and kick his ass."

"Kick ass." Naomi repeated her chosen mother, making both genin and Tazuna look at the girl in disbelief. "Daddy kick ass."

Naruto grinned, "You bet I will, baby." He took off after Sasuke and Riku.

Zabuza snorted. "A genin and already a father. His last mistake will be bringing his kid places they shouldn't be."

Kakashi gave him a two-eyed stare. "Naruto's not the type to fail easily. He and Sasuke will take Riku out and I'll take you out. No one's seen this Sharingan before and lived to tell the tale."

"Bring it,"

The two jonin clashed.

…

Naruto, Sasuke and Riku landed on a field just a little away from where Kakashi and the rest were. Naruto and Sasuke stood on one side and Riku on the other, cracking his neck to get ready.

"You guys are dying here."

Sasuke smirked. "I was just gonna tell you that."

Naruto looked to Sasuke, "Ready?" the Uchiha nodded. "Let's kick his ass then!"

The two-on-one fight started.

End of Chapter 7 of The Fox's Cub

I did say someone else was gonna be on Zabuza and Haku's team.

Kakashi's ideal babysitter will arrive either in the next chapter or the one after and will bring someone else with him to help with the Zabuza thing. I always thought it was dumb how Kakashi didn't call for help after the first fight with Zabuza

I probably won't show too much of the Kakashi vs. Zabuza fight and might just focus on Naruto and Sasuke vs. Riku.

If you wanna know what my other Naruto fic ideas are tune in next time.

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 3


	8. The Land of Waves Part 3

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **108 reviews, 88 favorites and 134 alerts. Yay, we passed 100 reviews and now were on chapter 8. Thank you guys for all of the support for this. I have more story ideas out on the bottom so check those out and see which interests you more.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 8- The Land of Waves Part 3

Naruto and Sasuke charged at their opponent, both of them more focused then they ever been before in their entire lives. Sasuke's hands dug into his pouch, pulling out two kunai in each hand. He didn't take into count that Riku hadn't even moved an inch, only staring at his opponents with a bored expression. Sasuke whipped the kunai in Riku's direction, Naruto making two clones as the kunai flew.

Within a blink of an eye, as the kunai neared Riku, the brown-haired missing-nin's fingers found their way into the circles at the bottom of the kunai. Flipping them vertically, he flicked his wrists and threw the kunai back at them, Naruto's two clones disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

'So fast.' Both genin thought, the teammates in awe at the speed their opponent displayed.

"Is that all you got?" Riku still hadn't taken a step. "If so…" Naruto and Sasuke were now within striking distance, their fists cocked back and ready to strike. Riku grabbed their fists as they brought them forward, tightening his hold soon after. Naruto and Sasuke struggled to get out of the hold Riku had on them, noting just how strong the missing-nin was. Riku shoved them away, the genin spinning while flying through the air.

Sasuke rolled onto his feet, Naruto knocking up specks of dirt and grass as he tumbled down a good twenty feet away from where his teammate had landed. The Uchiha growled. This Riku was strong, and by the look on his face and by how he hadn't even moved his feet yet, he seemed to just be playing with them. Well that was fine with Sasuke, as the Uchiha hadn't even started getting serious himself.

He turned to his downed teammate. "Get up, Naruto! Don't fall asleep just yet!"

The taunt that the Uchiha spouted seemed to be enough to get Naruto to jump up. "I wasn't gonna sleep, teme! I was just catching my breath."

Riku sighed at the display between the two genin, "You guys really are weak. I haven't even had to move yet. If this keeps up, I'll kill both of you without even breaking a sweat."

Sasuke glared at him, not finding it amusing how this guy was mocking him. Sasuke really hated to be mocked at. It reminded him about what Itachi had said to him on the night of the massacre, and all the nightmares that followed of Itachi mocking him about not being able to stop him from killing the clan. He felt his blood boil at Riku's words, a new spark being lit.

Naruto growled at Riku, "Yeah right! We're not gonna lose here! Our sensei trusted us to defeat you, and that's exactly what we're gonna do! We have the advantage! It's two against one!"

"It could be one-hundred against one and it still won't matter." Riku let loose a small smirk on his face. He cracked his knuckles and shook his shoulders. "Come on, let's go."

Naruto formed the cross seal, a dozen clones poofing into existence. The small Naruto army charged at Riku, the missing-nin forming his own handseals. Riku jumped back by the small lake behind them, the water starting to rise behind him.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" the water hardened and formed fourteen mini-balls of water and shot itself at the clones, dissipating four of them.

Sasuke saw one of the bullets coming for him at an incredible pace. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time, he knew that. He thought about using the Fireball Jutsu, but he was going against water here. Sasuke wasn't a chemist, but he knew that water beat fire.

A cloud of smoke entered his vision as one of the Naruto clones took the hit for him.

"Sasuke, don't fall asleep on me!" Naruto teased, using Sasuke's previous insult against him.

Sasuke glared back at the blonde. "Shut up."

The sound of poofing and screams of pain symbolized that the clone army had been wiped out by the remaining water bullets, the terrain once again being cleared and reduced back to the way it was before they got there.

"Back to square one," Riku looked around. "If we keep going like this, then nothing is gonna get done." Riku dropped his arms so they hung at his sides. "I'll give you one chance to attack me." Naruto and Sasuke's eyebrows rose at the abnormal offer. "Like I said, so far nothing has been accomplished. Attack me; I wanna see how strong you two really are."

Riku was too calm, Sasuke noticed. Offering him and Naruto the chance to attack him didn't make any sense at all. One of the obvious rules to battle was to not allow your opponent to strike you, as it could lead to your death. But the enemy was right. So far nothing was happening; just them going around in circles. This could be their only chance, but it could also be a trap. They would need to test the waters first before diving in.

Sasuke looked to Naruto. "Hey," Naruto looked to him. "Make a clone and have it attack him. If it succeeds, then we'll both move in. If not, then I'll use the smoke that your clone will make as a distraction for my Fireball Jutsu."

Naruto nodded, finding Sasuke's plan to be a good one. He might've clashed heads with Sasuke on many occurrences, but he could admit that the Uchiha was smart and could come up with a strategy that could help them win. His eyes found their way back the way that they came. Naruto was wondering how everyone else was doing. How Kakashi was doing against Zabuza and how Sakura was dealing with keeping an eye on Naomi and Tazuna. He hoped they were all okay.

Looking back, Naruto formed his cross seal and made the one clone Sasuke requested. The clone charged at Riku, the ex-mist ninja just standing and watching the clone come to him. The clone jumped and performed a spin kick, aiming for Riku's skull. Much to Sasuke and Naruto's surprise, the kick landed; sending Riku into the lake that stood behind their opponent.

Sasuke's suspicion increased. That was almost too easy. Kakashi said that this guy was a B-Rank missing-nin. He shouldn't have fallen for such an easy attack like that. The clone looked back at them, not entirely sure what to do now. Sasuke waved his hand in dismissal, signaling the clone to go away; which it did.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's confused voice broke through the Uchiha's thoughts. "That seemed a little too easy… don't ya think?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at where their opponent was standing a few moments ago. He was wrecking his mind trying to figure out why Riku just took the hit.

'That was too easy. Why would he take the hit like that? If he's supposed to be strong, he should've easily been able to stop Naruto's kick. Something's not right here.'

Riku crawled out of the lake, water dripping down his wet shaggy brown hair. His clothes drenched from the water, he resumed standing where he was a moment ago. He smirked at the two genin, "That was one hell of a kick, Blondie. I think I have a headache coming along." He rubbed his head for emphasis. "Tell me something… why do you think I took the hit and landed in the lake?"

Naruto and Sasuke were appalled by his sudden question. It was Naruto that answered. "'Cause you're cocky and are underestimating us."

"Nope," Riku shook his head. "I'm from the Mist Village… and we specialized in water jutsu."

The gears turned in Sasuke's head, his eyes widening. 'Oh shit!' He turned to Naruto, "Watch out!" a second Riku suddenly hopped from the bottom of the lake, his left leg fully extended and kicking Naruto square in the chin, sending the jinchuriki flying into a tree.

Riku laughed, "I might've underestimated you guys at first… but, the blonde here can make Shadow Clones, something I hear only jonin from Konoha can do. The fact that he's a genin and performing the jutsu surprises me." He formed more handseals. "Water-Whip!" a large stream of water rose up and started to head for Sasuke, the young Uchiha being forced to roll over to avoid being hit. The whip struck the ground where the avenger last stood, a small dent in the earth being left in its spot.

Sasuke panted, whether it was from fear or exhaustion he couldn't tell. 'Damn it! This guy is tough as nails. But I won't lose to him. I have an ambition to fulfill and I'll be damned if I die here before I make Itachi pay!' Sasuke went into a blaze of handseals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" a glowing ball of flames erupted from the Uchiha's mouth, the fire heading towards Riku.

Naruto regained his posture after being kicked in the face like he did. He watched as his partner's fireball was whipped into steam as a water-whip smacked the jutsu aside like a pesky fly. Naruto, not one for being left out of the action, whipped out some shuriken, forgetting that there was a second Riku that was coming after him. The Water-Clone Riku appeared in a flash and rammed his fist into Naruto's stomach, sending the genin spiraling over to Sasuke, knocking the Uchiha out of the way as a water-whip went to cut his head off.

Riku growled. "That's horrible luck." He chastised to himself.

Naruto and Sasuke rolled over after knocking into one another. "Teme." Naruto took a deep breath. "If you have any ideas, I'm all ears."

Sasuke sighed in annoyance. "If I had an idea, I wouldn't be standing here trying to come up with one!"

"Geez man, get a grip. No need to get pissy at me."

"Naruto shut up for once and try to think." Sasuke examined the two Riku's ahead of them. "There are two of them, and we have no way of knowing which one is the real one. Water-Clones only have a set amount of strength from the original and can't go very far. Since he's made one, I'm gonna assume he has half the strength as the real one." Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the Riku twins got ready for Round 3. "Only question is how do we tell which one of them is the clone?"

"Easy, find the one with my face-print on his shoe." Naruto glared at the twins, his jaw still aching from the kick.

"Time to gamble then," Sasuke sighed. "Since I'm stronger-"

"No you're not!"

"I'll stay here and fight one while you take the other and lead him away." Sasuke continued as if Naruto never interrupted. "With some luck, you'll have the clone and once you get far enough, it'll disappear and then you can hopefully tip the odds in our favor."

"And what if I don't get the clone?"

"Then go back to where Kakashi is." Sasuke answered. "With more luck, he'll be finished with his fight and he can help us with this guy."

Naruto had to hand it to Sasuke. The kid came up with some really good battle-plans when under pressure. He was still a little peeved that Sasuke declared himself as the stronger one, but knew that now wasn't really the best time to argue. Plus, if he was supposed to head back where Kakashi and the rest were; then he can check in and see if his daughter was alright.

Just the fact he brought her here, on a freakin' ninja mission that was now a battle to the death, Naruto felt like slapping himself upside the head while ramming his face into the ground over and over. How the hell could he have been so stupid and immature? This was the worst thing he could've done as a father. She already almost died once, had it not been for Kakashi's quick-thinking. The anger he felt, the rage that fueled his desire to rip those brothers to shreds scared the hell out of him, but he somewhat welcomed it. Although, if Kakashi hadn't stepped in when he did and showed him that Naomi was still alive, then he would've done something that _might _have haunted him later. He wouldn't make these stupid mistakes again.

Picking one of the Riku's at random, he stuck his tongue out at him. "Come on and get me you bastard!" he bent back after doing a quick spin, slapping his butt soon after. "Come on, you got a daily dose of Naruto Uzumaki ass-kicking heading your way. Come and take it!"

The Riku he picked growled and ran for him, apparently taking Naruto's taunts a little too seriously. Naruto yelped as he jumped to the side to avoid a foot to the head. Naruto landed on his feet, going back into taunting the Riku he picked. "Come and get me, Riku-teme."

And Riku did just that, ignoring Sasuke and going right for the blonde pest. Naruto did a back-flip into the trees, taking off in the direction where they came from. As he jumped and avoided the punches, kicks and now kunai that Riku was throwing, Naruto was hoping that this was the clone.

Sasuke looked at his Riku. "I don't know if you know this…" the Uchiha smirked. "But I am an Uchiha, a part of Konoha's most notorious clan. I won't lose to a pest that ran off after killing his family… reminds me too much of this guy I hate." He growled as he compared Riku and Itachi, the comparison making him sick. If he couldn't beat Riku then he stood no chance against his brother. Riku would serve as practice, given his and Itachi's similar departure stories.

Riku seemed surprised but shrugged it off later as if it was never there. "Don't care. I did hear however that someone did survive that massacre. So it's you?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yes and now you're about to feel the wrath of an Uchiha!" Sasuke's hands moved accordingly as he set his fingers up to his mouth. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" little fireballs fired out of his mouth, Sasuke spitting them out in a rapid fire motion.

Riku dodged the small fireballs, sending out his water bullets to counter the ones that came close to touching him. This Uchiha was definitely tough for a kid his age. He would prove to be a problem later on in the future if he didn't stop him now. Dodging another mini-fireball, he went back to the water whip, swinging his arm around furiously to go after Sasuke, destroying branches that got in the way of the deadly water.

Sasuke ducked his head, jumped and slid to avoid the water whip that wanted to take his head off. He was still getting an idea on how to stop that jutsu from killing him. The ground beneath him was slowly getting dented with each strike that the whip launched at him. After he moved to dodge again, his arm got grazed from the close encounter, a trail of blood now leaking out of his arm as a huge cut appeared on his skin. He winced in pain, falling onto one knee and grabbing his wound.

Riku smirked. "An Uchiha is bowing to me. I feel honored."

Sasuke growled. Hearing Riku mock him fueled his anger that was already bubbling inside of his chest. Without warning, he used his good arm to pull out a strand of wire. Jumping into the air, he used his heel to kick out a kunai from his pouch, the sharp knife landing in between his teeth.

Riku shot out two water bullets at the airborne Uchiha, Sasuke doing a small twirl to avoid the two bullets. One of their explosions sent a chunk of the ground into his back, Sasuke almost falling down onto the ground from the hit. Using his weakened arm, he wrapped the wire around the kunai and tossed it to Riku, the ex-mist ninja dodging the kunai. Sasuke smirked, pulling the wire after Riku dodged, redirecting the kunai back and over to his back. Riku gasped as the kunai stabbed his back, Sasuke taking pride that he managed to get him.

Riku however smirked and started to shrink, his feet and legs turning into liquid and the rest of the body followed soon afterward. Sasuke cursed. He got the clone. That meant that the real Riku was the one chasing Naruto. He retrieved his kunai and started his jump back to where the rest of Team 7 was, the pain in his arm and back throbbing.

…

Naruto dodged the kunai that his Riku tossed at him, the knife landing into the branch where he was just standing on. He's been running and jumping for a good five minutes now and Riku hadn't made a move to slow down or get winded. Naruto still didn't know whether or not he had the real Riku, but the odds were, based on what he saw, that this was the real Riku.

Landing on another tree, a water bullet appeared out of nowhere and attacked the blonde ninja, Naruto stumbling and almost falling off of the tree. He couldn't have that happen, as it'll result in instant death for him. Riku was getting uncomfortably closer now, Naruto wanting to get out of here and either back to Sasuke or back to Kakashi, either one was fine with him.

Jumping again, Naruto threw a shuriken at Riku, the older ninja tilting his head to avoid the oncoming weapon. Naruto clenched his teeth due to his crappy aim, making a note to fix that if he got away from this persistent son of a bitch. Tripping due to another water bullet, Naruto was kicked in the cheek by Riku, flying through the rest of the trees.

Luckily for him, he landed on the exact clearing in which Kakashi was about to finish off Zabuza. Riku jumped out of the trees, his eyes wandering away from his opponent to Zabuza's panting form. He and Kakashi must've had one hell of a fight if Zabuza was all tired and whatnot. Before he could open his mouth to say something, a senbon impaled his and Zabuza's neck; the two missing-nin's falling limp right afterward.

Kakashi, feeling exhausted due to the Sharingan, watched another ninja hop out through the trees, He had a mask on that resembled the Mist Village's hunter-nin. The ninja bowed, "Thank you for weakening these two. I've been chasing them for awhile now but couldn't find the right moment to attack."

Kakashi nodded. "It wasn't much trouble."

The hunter-nin nodded, wrapping an arm around Riku's neck and tossing Zabuza over his shoulders. He performed a handseal and in a swirl of leaves, the three were gone. Kakashi sighed, looking over to Naruto after covering his eye. "Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto noticed the lack of not just Sasuke, but also Sakura, Naomi and Tazuna. "Where's Sakura-chan, Naomi-chan and the bridge builder?"

A rustle in the bushes caught his attention. Sakura exited with Naomi safe in her arms and Tazuna trailing behind her. Kakashi pointed towards them, "You missed Sakura's finest moment so far I think." He eye-smiled, "She saved me from being trapped in Zabuza's Water-Prison Jutsu."

Sakura blushed at the praise. "I just threw a couple kunai at him, sensei. It wasn't that big of a deal. I saw him about to trap you, so I did what I had to do to help you." She noticed Sasuke's lack of presence. "Where's Sasuke-kun!?" her fear of something happening to Sasuke taking over.

Naruto gestured back to where he and Sasuke went to fight Riku. "He was fighting a clone of Riku's. But since Riku is dead now, the clone should be gone. He should be coming back about…" Sasuke jumped out of the trees. "Now."

Sasuke was still grabbing his arm in pain. "I took out his clone, but I didn't get through clean."

Kakashi nodded at Sasuke's wound. "That looks nasty."

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura would've bombarded him, but she had a baby in her arms. She was freaked out at his wounds, seeing that he was in pain from them. "Do you need help?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm fine. Just need to sit down and rest."

"We're almost to my home." Tazuna said. "Just a little more and then we're there."

"Are you feeling fine, Naruto?" Kakashi asked the loudmouth. Naruto nodded at his sensei, Kakashi nodding back. "Good… because you need to carry me." Without any sort of warning, Kakashi fell over onto the ground, the exhaustion from the Sharingan making him pass out.

…

Two days of resting later found Team 7 in Tazuna's house. After awakening, Kakashi had voiced his suspicion about Zabuza and Riku's 'deaths', noting that the weapon used wasn't one that was normally used for killing people. Sasuke was satisfied that he had a chance to go against Riku again, as was Naruto, both of them wanting to finish what the three of them started.

As soon as he had been done relaying the fact that Zabuza and Riku were coming back, Kakashi had kept his word about calling for someone to come and get Naomi and bring her back to Konoha, this place too dangerous for the baby to stay. Naruto understood, not really putting any other fight about it, only asking if the person coming to get her would treat her right and not tell anyone who she was. Kakashi seemed to whine a little, but assured him that he'll work something out.

And now that person was here… along with someone else.

"Hello Kakashi!" a tall man with ridiculous eyebrows greeted with a weird pose. His green jumpsuit freaked Naruto and the rest out, as well as the younger clone that he had with him; which Naruto was peeved about since Kakashi said that no one else would know. "Pakkun said that you needed me?"

Kakashi nodded, using the doorframe as his crutch. If Guy saw him weak, then he might stay. Kakashi would rather go against Zabuza and Riku with one arm and one leg then to deal with Guy for a long period of time. "Well Guy…" and thus Kakashi told him the short version of the story, Guy nodding after all was said and done.

"I will escort little Naomi here back to Konoha and will keep an eye on her until your humble return."

Naruto beamed, "Thank you Bushy-Brow-Sensei."

If Guy was offended by the nickname, he didn't show it. "No problem, young one."

"Guy-Sensei really is an amazing man!" Guy's student, Rock Lee, shouted with much optimism. When Guy got the request from Pakkun to come to Wave, Lee had been with him training. Guy, not seeing why Lee couldn't tag along, made it training to run to Wave within one day, much to the genin's excitement. That explained how Guy was here so fast.

Guy took in Sasuke's wounds, noting them before turning back to Kakashi. "I see the Uchiha here is hurt."

Sasuke scoffed, Kakashi holding his hand up to stop the avenger from saying something stupid. "He took a little hit. He'll be fine." Kakashi assured.

"If what you say is true and that these two might return, then allow my protégée Lee here to help you carry out your mission."

"We'll be fine." Kakashi assured once again. "We would've already won had it not been for the arrival of that hunter-nin."

"You may be right Kakashi, but that means you'll have another opponent to worry about. Just for the Uchiha's sake, in case he doesn't heal up in time, allow Lee to help you fight off those shinobi. He's one of the strongest genin in the village."

"As a shinobi of Konoha, I will do all I can to assist my injured comrades. Please allow me to assist you." Lee bowed politely to Kakashi, the copy-nin almost sweat-dropping at the younger Guy-clone. Guy brought up a good point about how if Sasuke didn't heal up in time, with a new opponent now; they would need the extra hand. Maybe having Lee would increase chances of success. Or he'll just get a massive headache. Guy wasn't gonna leave until Kakashi agreed anyway. The man was stubborn to the point of being stupid sometimes.

Kakashi shrugged, "What the hell. Welcome aboard on the mission, Lee."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei, I will do my best."

"Thank you Kakashi." Guy nodded. "I'll be getting back to Konoha now." He looked to Naruto, "Don't worry; I'll make sure she's cared for."

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Thank you." Naruto locked eyes with Naomi, who was confused at being held in the arms of someone who wasn't Naruto or Sakura. "Daddy'll be back in no time. I promise." He kissed her head. "I'll miss you."

Sakura moved next to him and copied him, instead kissing Naomi's forehead. "Mommy'll miss you too."

Sasuke saw Lee's eyes widen, knowing what he's thinking. "Remember, adopted daughter, not actual kid." Lee ohed and then nodded, feeling embarrassed at forgetting that.

Guy said farewell to Lee and Team 7, plus Guy's protégé, prepared for the battle ahead.

End of Chapter 8 of The Fox's Cub

Guy took Naomi back to the village and Lee is now helping on the mission. I needed someone to help with fighting Haku and Riku and he was the first that came to mind. Naruto and Sasuke aren't strong enough to go against each of them one-on-one. It took both of them to beat Haku in canon and I doubt Sakura can go against Riku by herself if Naruto and Sasuke couldn't beat him. And also, makes for great humor to have Lee onboard plus he's cool. He plays a big role from here on out.

Everyone say bye to Naomi. We won't see her cuteness for a while, but we'll still get NaruSaku cuteness in the oncoming chapters.

And now for my other Naruto fic ideas.

-**A Naruto Zombie Apocalypse story that follows The Walking Dead. (Many pairings)**

-**Naruto loses either an eye or hand and thinks about quitting as a ninja. (NaruSaku)**

-**Konoha 12 go on a mission to deliver crates to Wave and is attacked by Itachi, Kisame, Deidara and Sasori. Naruto's status is revealed and a fight ensues. (Takes place before Sasuke Retrieval. NaruSaku)**

-**Naruto and Dark Naruto are separated one day and now Konoha must face the real Naruto Uzumaki and this one's not so forgiving. (NaruSaku)**

Which one do you like more?

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 4


	9. The Land of Waves Part 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **126 reviews, 96 favorites, and 148 alerts. I wanna thank all of ya from the bottom of my heart for all the support of this story. I'm actually surprised that it's doing so well. I thought people would hate it for some reason. And people seem to be in favor of me doing the Konoha 12 vs. Akatsuki fic next. I might, it all depends.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 9- The Land of Waves Part 4

Naruto's back was arched against the base of the tree as he stared at the clearing ahead. Kakashi-sensei assigned them to climb up trees using nothing but their chakra, claiming that their chakra control would improve after mastering the tree-climbing technique. The new addition to their team, Lee, had vouched for him, saying that his sensei taught his team the same thing and it did wonders for their chakra control. Naruto wasn't seeing it. He had been trying to climb up the damn tree for the past two hours and he hadn't gone up pretty far. He didn't know why it was so hard. He put his chakra towards his feet and then went to run up the tree like Kakashi had told them to, but yet every time he tried, he fell and landed on his head… hard.

He couldn't figure out why he was having so much trouble with something as simple as climbing a tree. That's why he was sitting down; taking a five minute break so his head can stop banging and he didn't destroy his brain from all the falling he was doing. He had gone against a B-Rank missing-nin and came out alive, something that wasn't normally possible for a new genin straight out of the academy; but climbing up a tree was seemingly harder then that.

Maybe it was because he was distracted. Naomi wasn't here anymore, having been taken under the care of Kakashi-sensei's friend Matio Guy, or as Naruto called him, Super Bushy-Brow Sensei. Naruto still didn't like that his adopted daughter was being cared for by someone he didn't know well. Even if Kakashi-sensei trusted him enough to let him handle the baby, Naruto's instincts as a dad were telling him that he should be worried. Maybe that thought was what was stopping him from really focusing and was interfering with his training.

Or it could be what Sasuke told him before. He sucked. Naruto had of course gotten annoyed by that, getting in Sasuke's face about saying that he sucked when he didn't. You would think after working together to fight off a dangerous rouge ninja that the two of them would be even better teammates, but no. Not according to Sasuke. He still treated him the same way as before.

Much to Naruto's delight, Lee had taken his side and told Sasuke that he shouldn't be talking down to his teammate. Naruto appreciated the help from Lee, even if he didn't know the boy all that well. He was so used to having Sakura take Sasuke's side, which she didn't do here for some reason, that he was always alone in these situations. Having an ally in the form of the bushy-brow kid was nice to have. At least he wasn't gonna be alone now when Sasuke decided to be an ass to him.

He looked away from the clearing ahead to watch Sakura do her third time up the tree. She had gotten it right after the first time, but Kakashi thought that she should go up and down a few more times so it became second-nature to her. Sasuke and Lee were off in a secluded area a little bit away from here so they can spar together. Lee was an expert in taijutsu and self-proclaimed strongest genin in the village. Of course Sasuke, having a pride as big as the entire shinobi nation, didn't believe him and requested, more like demanded, a match between the older genin. Lee didn't mind, finding the chance to face an Uchiha in battle exciting. Kakashi was still recovering from his fight with Zabuza, chilling inside Tazuna's house with his usual reading material. That left Naruto alone with Sakura, which is something that Naruto always wanted. He felt like if he can just spend some time alone with her, he can win her heart.

She landed back on the ground, panting from the running she had been doing. Naruto couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked with her long pink hair glistened with sweat. A smile found his way onto his face as he watched her trying to get her breath back. His love for the girl grew when she took the role as the surrogate mother to his little girl. Naruto will admit at first that he didn't want Sakura to find out about Naomi, his past experiences with her clouding just what kind of person he thought Sakura was. He was ashamed of himself for thinking bad about her finding out about Naomi. It made things better for him. He was worried for Naomi at the start because his original plan was to keep her hidden from everyone and he was upset that she wasn't gonna have a mom or anyone else in her life other than him. He was glad that Sakura took it upon herself to act as a parental figure for the little girl when she didn't have to and had no reason to.

In a weird and crazy way, they were mother and father to a little girl. Naruto might've not known a lot about families, but he did know that a mother and father should be married when they have a kid. There wasn't a chance in hell that he was gonna ask Sakura to marry him right here and right now. That would ruin what ever changes that had been occurring between them. Naruto might've been an idiot at times, but he wasn't stupid… wait… that was stupid.

But he wanted to ask her if they can try becoming a couple because of Naomi. He really wanted to. But he guessed that Sakura would guess that he was using his daughter as an excuse to get her to go out with him. Wow, Naruto thought, ever since he became a dad he had been doing more thinking and analyzing then he ever had in his entire life. Shaking his head at himself, Naruto figured that he shouldn't ask her about that. It was best to stay quiet and not bring up the possibility of her and him dating for Naomi's sake.

If it turned out that that was what he needed to get Sakura to go out with him, Naruto was gonna go on a tantrum.

Sakura stopped her panting to look over at her blonde teammate, noticing how he was smiling at her. It was kinda creepy in her opinion. She found his crush on her flattering and she appreciated it, but she didn't feel the same way about him. Unlike before, when she would've hollered at him for looking at her weird, she only rolled her eyes at his lovey dovey look at her. "Any reason why you're staring at me?" she asked while wringing her hands through her hair to get rid of the sweat.

Naruto's brain was still stuck in thought mode when he answered. "I just think you look really nice." When the words came out of his mouth and he processed what he just said, Naruto's eyes widened and he clamped his hand over his mouth a second too late.

Sakura felt the heat rush to her cheeks, something that never happened when Naruto complimented her before. When did Naruto have the power to get her to blush? That was something only Sasuke was able to do. Feeling self-conscious because of the way she looked right now with dirt and sweat covering her, Sakura lowered her face. "I look like crap."

"If you look like crap, then I look like shit." Naruto was quick to reassure her about how she looked, feeling like that was one of the things he always had to do. He tossed her a quick and reassuring smile. "Don't talk bad about yourself, Sakura-chan. I don't think it's possible for you to look bad."

How did she respond to that? A couple days ago she would've just smacked him for saying nice things about her, now that she actually thought about that it was really stupid for her to do that. It was easier like that. But now she had this small respect for the boy ever since she found out that he did a mature thing and honestly an attractive thing by taking in an orphan. Smacking him right now would kinda destroy that respect she had.

So she did the next plausible thing she could think of. She smiled at him and thanked him. "Thank you, Naruto. That's really nice of you." She walked over and took a seat next to him by the tree. "Do you miss Naomi?"

Naruto was doing mental back flips that Sakura was sitting so close to him. He nodded at the pink-haired girl, softening his expression at the mention of his daughter. "Of course I do. She's my little girl. I wish she was here with me, but it ain't safe here. It was stupid to bring her here in the first place."

"You're still learning how to be a parent, Naruto." Sakura reminded him. "You're gonna make mistakes here and there. That much is true. This is just one of those many mistakes."

"But my mistake almost got her killed," Naruto told her, getting angry at himself for doing something as dumb as endangering his little girl. "What kind of parent am I that I almost got her killed? The guilt I woulda felt if she were to get hurt or die would've been enough to kill me. I knew I was stupid, but not retarded."

Hearing Naruto talk bad about himself wasn't something that Sakura was used to hearing. Naruto was always blabbing on about how strong he is and how he'll become the next Hokage. All with a confident grin on his whiskered face. But right now, he looked lost and looked so ashamed of himself and his actions. Never mind the fact that he had gone against a B-Rank missing-nin with Sasuke and survived, something that Naruto should've been jumping in joy and bragging about; he was too focused on the mistake that he made of initially taking his baby girl with him on a ninja mission. In Sakura's honest opinion, taking a baby on a ninja mission was something that she could see Naruto doing. Especially since Naruto never thought some of his actions, all right all of his actions, through.

Sakura placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You're not retarded, Naruto."

Naruto looked at her in confusion. "But you called me an idiot many times before."

The pang of guilt that Sakura felt was almost enough to get her to stop talking. But she needed to get Naruto to not talk bad about himself. He couldn't act as a loving father for their daughter if he thought badly about himself. "I shouldn't have said that to you. Just because I'm smart doesn't mean that I should talk bad about you just because you aren't as smart as me."

"You are smart and I like that about you." She blushed again. "And I'm not smart, I know, but don't get mad at yourself for calling me stupid. If I was you and you were me, I would've called me an idiot too." Only Naruto would make someone feel better about themselves by making fun of himself. He was definitely an interesting person in her opinion.

Sakura smiled at his reassurance, nudging his shoulder playfully, both of them laughing as they were in one another's company.

"Mommy and Daddy seem to be getting along nicely." Both genin turned to see the third member of their team and their temporary teammate staring down at them. Sasuke had some cuts on him, no doubt from Lee knocking his ass around. "All we need is Naomi and then we got the entire family here."

Sakura and Naruto's face turned bright red as Sasuke and Lee smiled and smirked down at them respectively. Lee gave them a thumbs up, "It's always amazing to see two people in love with each other."

Naruto's head found itself repeatedly smashing against the bark of the tree that he and Sakura were leaning against and Sakura's face was completely red. The poor girl looked like she was gonna pass out with the way she looked. Sasuke thought that look meant she was angry, not embarrassed like how she was feeling.

"Lee… I think its best to stop right there." He warned. The older genin looked at him in confusion. "You don't wanna see Sakura angry, man, trust me." Lee took that as his warning to stop right there, keeping his mouth shut after.

Team 7 felt at peace now, but it was soon gonna be ripped apart in their upcoming fight with Zabuza and his gang.

End of Chapter 9 of The Fox's Cub

Sorry its short, but this was just me practicing my NaruSaku. Let me know how I did, please?

Next chapter is when they'll go through all the events leading up till the fight on the bridge and the fights will remain the same with the addition of Lee vs. Riku. Oh man I can't wait to write Lee kicking ass.

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 5 


	10. The Land of Waves Part 5

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **146 reviews, 123 favorites and 174 alerts, thank you all for this. I am so sorry for the wait for this chapter but things got to me and I had to postpone this for a little bit. I hope you all are still on board this story and I hope that you can forgive me for the wait. The battle on the bridge starts next time and we'll move away from the Wave Arc and into my original arc. Be ready to see Naruto, Sasuke and Lee kick some ass in that arc.**

**This chapter's kinda short but the next one will be up ASAP, and by that, I mean on Monday or Tuesday.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 10- The Land of Waves Part 5

Naruto was lying under the trees in the forest where he and his team were practicing their tree climbing. He ran out here after he got into a screaming match with that brat Inari. The kid had the nerve to say that they were all gonna die to Gato if they didn't pick up their shit and get out. And then he gets into Naruto's face and tells him that he doesn't know how it's like to be miserable and to suffer. That was when Naruto flipped the batshit angry switch and started yelling at the kid. How dare that kid tell Naruto anything when he didn't know what Naruto had gone through in his life!? Naruto's life was the textbook definition of miserable, up until fairly recently anyway when he got his daughter and even started his friendships with Sasuke, Sakura, and even Lee, whom Naruto saw as a close friend. Without the four of them, his life would still be miserable and lonely. But he still knew how it felt to be lonely and miserable and the kid had to bring those feelings back.

Naruto kicked a branch that was a couple feet away from him and tilted his head in confusion when he heard a muffled cry of pain after it flew past the bushes. He got his answer when Lee strolled out of the bush, rubbing his cheek where Naruto saw dirt and a small twig. So the branch hit Lee? At least Naruto got that answer.

"Ouch. Naruto, you should really be more careful when you kick things. You can hurt someone." Lee motioned to the small cut that was visible on his face. Lee leaned against the base of the tree where Naruto was still laying against. "You alright? You ran out of there awfully fast."

Naruto shrugged at the older genin, "I guess. I'm just angry that that kid thinks he has it so hard when he doesn't even know what it means to suffer or be miserable. He doesn't know how it's like for others."

"And by 'others' you mean 'you'." It wasn't a question. Lee hit the nail on the head and caught what Naruto was trying to say. Lee might've looked a little bit on the dense side when it came to most things, but he can be really smart and perspective when he needed to be. And this was just one of those times.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah… I mean me. I might look like I'm not upset about anything and at this point in my life; I got nothing to be upset about. I'm finally getting friends, I have my own little girl, and I finally graduated after three tries. I have nothing left to be angry or upset about, but after Inari started shooting his mouth off about how we don't know what it means to suffer, I remembered what it feels like to be all alone and I got angry. I know I shouldn't have called him a brat and all of that other stuff I said, but I can't help it, you know?"

Lee nodded at him, sliding down the tree so he was sitting next to Naruto. "I know what it means to be alone too." Naruto looked to him in fascination. He didn't know that the loud and energetic Rock Lee knew what it was like to be alone. "Before I met Guy-sensei, I was a complete failure. I can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu and my taijutsu isn't as good as it was a few years ago. I was the dead-last of my class and everyone made fun of me for being a 'fake' ninja. No one wanted anything to do with me and my own parents were embarrassed by me for trying to achieve something they thought was a waste of my time. But I didn't want to give up,"

Naruto nodded in agreement. If you wanted to do something, you shouldn't give up on it.

"Although there were many times when I wanted to quit and save myself what ever pride I had left." Lee smiled. "But then I met Guy-sensei and I finally found someone who actually gave me the time of day. He helped me to perfect my taijutsu into what it is now and he's still helping me to improve. He helped pull me up from the dirt and he's helping me to become the best taijutsu user in the village."

"You two really are close, aren't you?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah and I'm glad I met him, just like I'm sure you're glad you met Naomi." The mention of his little girl made Naruto smile. "We both started off as alone but now we have people who we care for and who care for us. Sasuke might be a bit angry at times, but even I can see that he sees you as a friend."

"He shows it in his own way," Naruto slowly nodded, thinking of Sasuke's jabs at him and how Sasuke liked to beat him in what ever it was that they did. But he also remembered how the Uchiha had saved his life a few times in their fight against Riku and against the Demon Brothers. I guess you can say that Naruto and Sasuke were friends in a way.

"Sakura sees you as a friend. If that conversation you two had earlier today is any indication." Lee let a smirk roll its way on his face. "If I didn't know you two and I was watching from a distance, I would say you two looked like you were dating."

"Be grateful she isn't here or you would be soaring through those trees right now," Naruto warned, although he had a blush forming on his face. He did enjoy that conversation that he had with Sakura today. Even if it was mostly about him and his crappy parenting skills, he still liked talking to her without her yelling at him over something stupid that he did. He hoped they can have more talks with just the two of them and with no yelling involved.

"But she isn't here, so I got nothing to worry about." Lee smartly answered. "And did you notice how she said that Naomi was yours and _**her **_daughter? Sounds to me like there's something going on between you two and you just don't know it yet."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that because I like having a head on my shoulders and I'm not gonna ask Sakura about anything like that." Naruto said.

"I'm your friend too, Naruto. That's why I'm out here right now talking to you." Lee continued honestly, dropping a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I don't like seeing my friends hurt or sad. If you need anything, whether you need someone to talk to or what ever, you can always come to me. I won't turn you away." Lee smiled. "Remember that we aren't alone anymore and that we have people that care about us." Lee stood up from his spot on the ground. "Feel free to follow me back to the house, unless you wanna get eaten by a wild bear."

Naruto paled at Lee's choice of words. "They aren't bears out here… right?"

"Wanna find out?"

"No!" Naruto jumped up from his spot on the ground and started to run back to the house, Lee following behind him at a much slower pace, laughing to himself at the cruel joke that he gave to Naruto.

…

"I did it!"

Naruto and Sasuke stumbled into the doorway of the house, a long day of climbing trees having gotten past them. It's been a day since Naruto and Lee's conversation in the woods about their loneliness and the two genin were closer friends then they were before. Naruto and Sasuke still needed to finish climbing up the trees before the week passed them by and they had to fight Zabuza and his gang again. The two boys weren't ones to waste a day when they had training they could do.

"I think you mean 'we' did it." Sasuke spoke up. "I climbed the tree too, you know?"

"Oh yeah, sure, what ever." Naruto passed off Sasuke's words as nothing, which made the Uchiha twitch and glare at him. "Yeah, we both managed to climb all the way to the top."

Kakashi nodded at the two exhausted genin, "Good. Starting tomorrow, then, you'll both start guarding Tazuna while he's on the bridge."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded at him, Naruto's weight pulling them both down to the ground as Sasuke was holding onto him and Naruto decided to fall down. Sasuke pulled himself away and stood back up with much more effort. "And that, ladies and gents, is Konoha's newest father." Kakashi gestured to the downed Naruto. "My oh my, how life just likes to throw you all of these unexpected and funny circumstances."

"Shut up," Naruto spoke from the ground, his team laughing at his misfortune of lying on the ground.

…

Two days after that, which made the estimated return of Zabuza the next day, Naruto was taking a stroll around the house. Sasuke, Lee, and Kakashi were taking their shift in guarding Tazuna at the bridge, which left Naruto and Sakura to await their turn. Speaking of which, Naruto was trying to find her. He hasn't had a chance to try and talk to her since the conversation that they had a couple days ago about Naomi and his parenting skills, which he still felt sucked.

He wanted to talk to her and ask her if she wanted to hang out a bit before they had to take their shift and watch Tazuna. Lee's talk with him about how they were all friends now gave Naruto even more sparks of confidence to ask his friends if he wanted to hang out and spend time with each other. And on the bright side, Sasuke and Lee couldn't interrupt their moment like they did a few days ago.

Finding his way to the room in which she was staying in, Naruto used the little manners he had and knocked on the door. She was obviously in there since he could hear her humming to herself. He knocked again, which made her humming stop; showing that Naruto probably jerked her back to reality from what ever it was that she was doing.

"It's Naruto," he said as if telling who it was would get her to open the door. "Can I come in?" he asked.

He didn't hear her respond to him, so that frightened him just a tiny bit. He did hear the sound of rustling feet and then the jingle of the doorknob. Naruto stepped away from the door to leave a little bit of room. The door opened and Sakura stood on the other side, dressed in her usual attire for the day.

"Hey," Naruto greeted her. "How've you been?"

"Fine, thank you. Is there something I can help you with? I'm kinda busy right now." Sakura motioned behind her to something that Naruto couldn't see and it looked like she didn't want him to see it either.

"What you doing?" he asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Something," she dragged out with a smirk on her face.

"Can you tell me?"

"I really can't. You'll spoil it."

"Spoil it for whom? Sasuke?"

"No, for Naomi…" Sakura smacked her face. "Damn, I did not mean to do that."

"Are you making Naomi something?" Naruto lit up like a light bulb in a dark room. "I have to see it now. What are you making for my baby girl?"

Seeing Naruto all excited at what it was that Sakura was making for his daughter brought a smile to her lips. She's never seen Naruto so excited for anything before, and the boy got excited for a bunch of things. This was a new level in its own. She couldn't hide it from him now; he'll just sneak in later and find it himself anyway. Best to do it now so she didn't have to kick his ass later for breaking and entering.

"Fine, come look." Sakura ushered him in. Naruto gladly entered and looked around fast to try and find what ever it was that Sakura was about to show him. "Calm down, you'll see in a second." Sakura moved past him to the floor where she left her little gift for Naomi. She pulled it up and Naruto saw that it was the makings of a little hat. "They didn't have a lot of string, but since it's for a baby, I figured this was enough."

Naruto was shell-shocked. "Sakura-chan… you're making this for my baby?"

"She calls me mommy, so she's my baby too." She reminded. "And this will be good for those days when it gets really cold out. You buy her a lot of toys, but you lack out on clothes, Naruto."

"I thought we established that I'm not the perfect parent," Naruto reminded.

"I know. But you're still learning. This is just one of those lessons. Less toys and more clothes." She smiled at him. "There's no such thing as the perfect parent. There are only those that are better than others. You're a good daddy to Naomi. You love her and would do anything for her and you try your best to give her everything and anything. That's a good parent and don't forget that."

Naruto smiled at her and nodded, "Thank you, Sakura-chan."

"No problem," she set the incomplete hat down. "Can I ask you something?" Naruto nodded. "What are you gonna do when people find out about Naomi? I know that you like to think that no one has to know, but there's gonna come times where you'll need to tell someone about her. You got lucky with Lee and Guy. What happens when Hokage-sama finds out?"

Naruto was afraid that Sakura would ask him this. He was afraid of anyone asking him this. Even two weeks later since he found Naomi and he still hasn't come up with an answer to her question.

"I was gonna tell Hokage-jiji when I had no choice left. I'm scared that if I tell him, he'll probably take Naomi away from me and put her in the orphanage. I speak from experience that that place is not good to the younger kids. Naomi will get hurt over there and I can't have that happen to her."

"Just tell him that and he'll let you keep her."

"If I knew for sure, I would, but I'm still scared that he'll take her from me. Even if I only found her two weeks ago, she's become this important person in my life, maybe _**the **_most important person to me. I can't imagine my life without her in it now. I can't even imagine life before her sometimes."

Sakura felt bad for him. Naruto was so scared that Naomi was gonna get taken away from him and that his life was gonna become meaningless. He didn't have a reason to worry. Sakura would vogue for him to keep the baby and she was sure Sasuke, Lee, and Kakashi-sensei would too. If all of them spoke together, Naruto had nothing to worry about.

"That shows you're a loving father. You want her in your life and are scared to lose her. You got nothing to worry about with losing her. If it makes you feel better, I'll vogue for you to keep her."

Naruto was speechless. Sakura would really do that for him? For someone that a few weeks ago that she couldn't stand? "You would really do that for me, Sakura-chan? You would help me keep my little princess?"

Father Naruto was one of the things that Sakura could just call cute and adorable for hours on end.

"Yeah, I would. I want her in my life too. I love her and I don't wanna lose her either. I even overheard Sasuke saying that the kid was nice to have around, as it makes you less annoying and easier to deal with."

Yep, that was Sasuke all right.

"And Lee wants to meet her officially. You guys are friends now and Lee said that he can't wait to show her all the..." Sakura grew a little awkward here. "Things that is youthful."

Naruto liked Lee a lot, but he wasn't gonna let his daughter become as crazy as him or his sensei.

"You got people who want her in their lives and they aren't gonna give her up without a fight. Don't be scared when the fight hasn't even started. Who knows, maybe you have nothing to worry about and you'll be able to keep her regardless?"

Naruto nodded and smiled, grateful for everything that Sakura has told him. Another thing he was grateful Naomi brought him was the beginning of his friendship with Sakura, and hopefully more in the future.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Naruto."

…

Day 7, the day that Zabuza was supposed to return, came and Team 7, minus Naruto, found themselves heading towards the bridge for another day of bodyguarding. Kakashi had that strange feeling that something was gonna happen and he had every right to have it.

Especially since the crew for building the bridge was knocked away and the equipment was ruined.

Mist rolled in and like Kakashi suspected, Zabuza, Riku, and the masked ninja were all there waiting.

Round Two was ready to begin.

End of Chapter 10 of The Fox's Cub

Check back on Monday or Tuesday for the next chapter and the end of the wave arc.

I liked the NaruSaku and NaruLee moments.

Hope you enjoyed.

Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 6 


	11. The Land of Waves Part 6

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **156 reviews, 128 favorites and 184 alerts. Thanks again for all of the support. And according to my messed up mind, Wednesday is Monday. Sorry this is a few days late but when you have younger siblings who like to hog the computer, you're not gonna get anything done. Wave ends here and then we move on to my original arc.**

**And I don't believe in writing word for word things we already seen in canon, so most of this is Lee vs. Riku. Naruto and Sasuke vs. Haku and Kakashi vs. Zabuza is the exact same, no need to change it.**

**The fight probably isn't as good as I can make it but I know you want to move on, I do too and I have hiccups and a stomach problem, which is slowing down my thinking process right now so this is really short for my tastes.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 11- The Land of Waves Part 6

Sasuke's eyes looked past the mist and towards the three figures that stood a little ways from them in the middle of the bridge. Like Kakashi had said, Zabuza had returned with Riku and now with the hunter-nin that had lied to them. Sasuke hated being lied too. He already had enough of that from Itachi; he didn't need it from other people that he didn't even know.

He watched his opponent from last time stare at him, seemingly wanting to have a rematch with him. Sasuke would love to have a chance to go at it with Riku again, but he also wanted to test his strength on the hunter-nin over there. It was times like this that Sasuke could fight against two people at once. He wasn't stupid to believe that he could take both of them on at once. He would get killed. He needed to pick one. The question was who?

He heard Zabuza chuckle at his team, "I don't recognize that one there in green. Picking up reinforcements, Kakashi?" So Zabuza noticed the new addition to their team.

Kakashi narrowed his eye at him. "I don't see how that'll matter to you. You're not living to see the end of this day." The gruff tone of Kakashi's voice made Sasuke glad that he was on their side. He turned his head to the three genin, "Listen carefully. Sasuke, you go up against that hunter-nin. We don't know what he's capable of. Lee, you go against Riku. Guy never shuts up about how strong you are, I'll feel good knowing that you're fighting someone that two of my team had to fight together to take down. And Sakura, stay and guard Tazuna. We need someone in case they manage to slip on by."

Sasuke and Lee faced their respective opponents and they faced them, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Lee," Sasuke's voice called to him. "He specializes in water jutsu. Try and stay away from the water and you'll be good to go." Sasuke warned him of Riku's jutsu, something that Lee was appreciative for.

Lee nodded thanks to him and watched Riku walk slowly up the bridge, his arms dangling at his sides. Lee made sure to watch his hands for any form of handseals. Riku stopped in the middle space between both parties, his lips forming into a smirk. Lee was confused, as was everyone else, on why Riku had stopped. They got their answer when a stream of water exited his mouth and landed on the pavement below him, puddles being formed all around him.

There goes Sasuke's idea of staying away from the water.

Lee used his great speed to avoid the water bullets that were now flying out and aiming at him, Kakashi having to dissipate the ones that were aiming towards the other members of the team. It seemed like these three didn't want to do three one-on-one fights and just wanted to go for a free for all. The team from Konoha knew that their chances were kinda better if they each fought them one-on-one, but the Mist team over there didn't seem to think the same way.

Riku stopped firing after he clearly saw that Kakashi was just gonna keep stopping his attack. Haku and Zabuza were gonna move to attack in a few seconds and Riku was supposed to use that diversion to kill the bridge builder. None of them counted on Kakashi's team getting a new recruit and that blonde kid wasn't around for the moment. Things got slightly more complicated for them.

He looked to Zabuza and saw that the man was nudging his head back, telling Riku silently to take the green jumpsuit wearing brat and to take the fight elsewhere. Riku nodded at him and started mad dashing towards the end of where the bridge was incomplete.

Lee wasn't about to rush on after him with the hunter-nin and Zabuza standing right there. They might attack and kill him when he's running. His idea changed when the two remaining mist nin bypassed him and headed for Sasuke and Kakashi respectively. He had his opening to go after Riku and he took it without hesitation.

Meeting up with said boy, Lee found him sitting on the edge of where the bridge stopped; his head looking out towards the sea below him.

"I have nothing against you," he spoke when he felt Lee's presence. "You and I are here for business. I'm here to kill and you're here to protect. It's unfortunate that we have to fight like this but that's the life we live."

Lee wasn't exactly sure why Riku was telling him this; possibly because he wanted Lee to know that he didn't have anything against him for what he was about to do. Riku was right. They were both here for business and it just sucked that they have to end up fighting each other here. That was shinobi life and they both accepted it. It didn't mean they had to like what came with it.

Riku jumped down into the water below, Lee slapping himself for being so careless in allowing him to get the advantage. Nothing to do now other than suck it up and hope for the best. Lee ran and jumped down as well, landing graciously on the water below to find that Riku wasn't anywhere to be seen.

'Probably under the water.' Lee thought to himself. He got his answer when he felt the lake shake beneath him and a giant water dragon appearing a few feet in front of him. If this was any other time, Lee would probably go on about how youthful and powerful that dragon was, but right now wasn't the best time as that dragon was trying to kill him.

Lee dodged the impact of the beast, the water shaking and it appearing to be raining from how hard it slammed into the water and exploded. Lee wished that he actually fulfilled Sasuke's idea on staying away from the water.

Ducking, he spun his leg around so his foot connected with Riku's jaw as the boy tried to attack him from under the water. Riku spun in the air, his hands hitting the water and using that as leverage to adjust his spinning position; his body now hunched over and his feet skitting his body across the lake.

Lee quickly followed up on his attack and ran forward. He jumped when Riku spat out a water bullet and extended his leg, using his teacher's signature move.

"Dynamic Entry!" he yelled, his foot hitting Riku in the chest; the ex-mist nin coughing from the hard kick and falling so his back landed on the water, which felt like a hard cement floor when you landed on it with lots of momentum.

Riku rolled up, his hand still clutching his chest. "That was an impressive kick. Very powerful."

"Thank you," Lee nodded. "You're very strong too. I am honored to be fighting someone as strong as you."

"Likewise," Riku agreed. "But I can't be wasting too much time here. I need to get back up and complete my mission."

"Same with me. My friends need my help with your friends and I need to be there." The sound of a smoke bomb going off halted the conversation they were having. They didn't do it, so it had to be coming from the top of the bridge where the rest of the teams were. Lee knew who it was the moment he heard the voice.

"Naruto Uzumaki is here to kick some ass!"

"Only Naruto," Lee laughed. "Only he would do and say that."

"Naruto…?" Riku tested the name on his lips. "Is that the blonde boy?" Lee nodded, which made Riku nod. "Yes, I remember him. He is very strong for a newly grad genin. Your friends might have a slightly better chance, but my team is still gonna win."

"The winner of this fight will see for themselves," Lee said, Riku nodded.

"Let's continue."

"Yes."

Riku placed his hands on the water and soon afterward, water whips started to form; surrounding Riku and making him appear to be an octopus. He swung one of the whips at Lee, the jumpsuit clad ninja jumping and avoiding the water whip as it hit the water below him. Lee took out a few shuriken and tossed them at his opponent, the water rising and forming a small shield to protect him and absorb the shuriken.

Lee landed back on the water and looked over Riku's position. Guy-sensei always told him that every jutsu has a weakness and all he had to do was find it. Riku was still keeping his hands on the same position in which he started the move and was only moving his head as he followed Lee.

Maybe he needed to keep his hands on the water to do the jutsu?

It was worth a try.

Lee ran with his insane speed, dodging water bullets and water whips as he ran for Riku. He jumped and started to spin around, his leg extended all the way.

"Leaf Hurricane!" he hit Riku's elbow and caused the hand to let go of the position it was in, the water whips shaking slightly and almost dissipating. Lee assumed it would once he hit the other arm. Balling his fist, he did just that and hit his other arm; it falling short and the whips disappearing.

Riku rolled over to avoid Lee stomping on his chest, most likely trying to pin him down to finish him.

"You really are good," Riku complimented once again. "Much stronger than any of them up there from what I've seen."

Lee smirked, "They're stronger than what you've seen, but thank you for the compliment. You are one of the strongest opponents I've faced."

Another explosion rang out, but this time Lee and Riku could feel that something wasn't right. The energy that they were feeling was awful, evil, and almost beastly. Something wasn't right.

'Is that Zabuza or Haku?' Riku asked.

'Is that Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, or Naruto?' Lee wondered.

Both opponents looked to one another, both in fear over what energy this was. If it went unchecked, it might come back and attack them later. Both nodded a silent agreement to put the fight on hold to check and they would come back later to continue.

…

What they weren't expecting to see was an angry Naruto about to kill Haku.

Lee watched his friend with red eyes and fangs go after the hunter-nin that Sasuke had been fighting. He looked so angry; so pissed off at him for some reason. Lee didn't see Sasuke anywhere, but saw that ice was slowly shattering in the distance.

And that was when he saw the limped form of someone on the bridge.

No Sasuke plus a pissed Naruto equaled that that body was most likely Sasuke.

Now Lee understood why he was angry.

Naruto had his fist fully extended and ready to finish off the masked ninja with a hit that would most likely take his head off. Lee rushed on ahead to grab Naruto to try and stop him, knowing that once he regained some sense that he would go into a guilt trip over killing someone.

"Naruto, I know you're mad about Sasuke but if you do this, you won't forgive yourself for it."

All he got was a growl and an elbow in the gut. The Kyuubified Naruto stopped his attempt to run when he saw Riku and Haku off to where Zabuza and Kakashi were. Naruto growled again and went after them, Lee about to go on after him when his trained ears picked up the slight sound of breathing behind him.

Turning his head, he could faintly see the chest of Sasuke Uchiha rising up and down.

He was alive!

Maybe seeing Sasuke up would halt Naruto from his attempts of murder.

…

And from there, Team 7 met Gato after Haku had sacrificed himself to save Zabuza from Kakashi's Lightning Blade. Riku had been shocked and the sight of the short man made the vengeful Naruto stop his running to look around. He saw Haku was dead and that the man who hired him for this job was right there. A new target found its way into the irises of Naruto's eyes.

But before he could start running, he heard the gasp of a familiar feminine voice. Turning his head, he visibly calmed down when he saw that Sakura was looking at him in shock. Now that he wasn't running and was thinking, he realized exactly he must've looked all angry and vengeful that he was.

His whiskers and eyes returned to the way they were supposed to be while his fangs resided back to their normal size. Naruto blinked as he looked around and saw the way that Sakura was looking at him, Riku, Kakashi, and Zabuza going after Gato and his army to end this as Riku and Zabuza was no longer the enemy.

"N-Naruto…?"

Sakura's mind was racing at a million miles a minute to try and accept the fact that she just saw Naruto with red eyes, fangs, and an expression that spelt out death to those who got in his way. It was unlike him. So unlike the loving dad that she's been seeing for the past week. The red-eyed Naruto was a monster compared to the blue-eyed one she came to call a friend.

"Sakura-chan… I…"

"Sasuke's alive!" Lee's voice called from the other side of the bridge. Both Naruto and Sakura looked to see him helping Sasuke along the bridge.

Naruto's eyes widened, relief coursing through him at seeing his friend breathing and alive again; scared that he was actually dead. He was glad now that he didn't have to break the news to Sakura that her crush was dead.

From there on out, Inari gathered the town to chase Gato off, arriving after Lee brought Sasuke over, Zabuza killed Gato; but was wounded in the process and Kakashi brought him over so he could see Haku before dying. Riku was left to watch, not really sure where to go now. After talking it over with Kakashi, Riku decided to head on out into the world instead of joining Konoha after Naruto suggested it, not wanting to cause trouble. He promised that they'll meet again and that he's sorry for everything that's happened.

The mission was complete and the next morning, Team 7 headed on back home; Naruto and Sakura feeling really excited at seeing Naomi once again.

And from the moment they step into Konoha, things will get a lot more challenging.

Starting with five rogue shinobi who have their sights on causing mayhem.

End of Chapter 11 of The Fox's Cub

Anticlimactic but I promise that the future chapters will all make up for this shitty chapter.

Be ready for Jealous!Sakura and a lot of Daddy!Naruto and Mommy!Sakura

My original arc starts next. Time for Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee to shine in epic fights.

Next Time: A Father's Rage


	12. A Father's Rage

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **165 reviews, 135 favorites and 195 alerts. We're almost to 200 reviews. Can we do it? I think we can!**

**My original arc starts right here and will continue around 5-6 chapters. One here to set it up and five more for the fights and ending. Someone asked in a review if Sakura was gonna fight too as I only mentioned Naruto, Lee and Sasuke. The answer to that is yes. I forgot to write her name because if you read my AN last time, you would've saw that I was acting scatterbrained and such. So, yeah, she'll fight in this arc.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 12- A Father's Rage

One week passed since the return of Team 7 from The Land of Waves. The moment that they stepped in through the gates, Naruto had Lee dragged around the village to find Guy's house so he can get his daughter back from him, missing her and wanting to spend a lot more time with her after the one week absence. That… and because Naruto was worried that Guy had tainted his daughter with his declarations of youth and such.

Much to Kakashi's amazement, Guy had actually managed to keep the baby from being exposed too much to the public. Only a few people had seen him walking around with the kid and even when they did, they assumed that he was either doing a mission or he was just watching the kid for someone who asked him to. Naruto was more relieved than he was amazed; happy that his daughter was all right and that his inevitable conversation with the Hokage was postponed for a little bit.

Now, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Lee and Naomi were outside in the woods outside of Konoha, having a hangout. Team 7 was off for a week after their mission and Lee didn't have one until the next morning. Kakashi was off doing his own thing, nothing that his students were gonna question as Kakashi wouldn't tell them what he was doing anyway if they asked.

Lee and Sasuke were situated a few feet away from Naruto, Sakura, and Naomi. The two boys were having themselves a light spar, still winded and tired from their respective fights in Wave. Sasuke wasn't about to lose a days worth of training just because he almost died. Since he survived, he would practice to ensure that a situation like Haku doesn't happen again. Naomi's eyes were watching in fascination as her two uncles aimed to hit each other. Sakura was holding her in her arms as she and Naruto leaned against a tree.

"Those two are like animals," Naruto commented as he watched Sasuke narrowly dodge a kick from Lee. "They just never stop with the fighting and the training. I like fighting as much as the next guy, but even I know when to take a break and relax just a little bit."

Sakura nodded at him, one eye looking at the baby and one eye looking at Naruto. She didn't forget about the way he looked all animalistic and angry when he came running out of the mist and after Haku with red eyes that held nothing but rage and malice. The image alone was enough to make Sakura shiver. Naruto looked so scary and so intimidating that a part of her wanted to shimmy away from him right now, but she knew that would make him upset and she didn't want to do that.

"And as much as I would like to join in and kick their ass, I need to make up for lost time and spend it with my little princess there." He smiled down at his adopted little girl. "And on the off chance that I lose in case they team up on me, I don't want Naomi to see her daddy get hit."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked as he dodged another punch from the older genin, having heard Naruto talking. "She has a right to see how much talk her dad is and no action."

"Shut it, Sasuke!" Naruto waved a fist at him. "Go back to getting your own ass kicked." It was obvious Naruto was on Lee's side for the fight, occasionally telling Lee to hit harder and to hit below the belt, which would earn him the finger every time from Sasuke when he had space to breathe.

Sasuke, once again, flipped him off and went into his own array of attacks on Lee.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke's misfortune to land an attack on Lee, even when he had his Sharingan active. It was something Lee said in the beginning of the fight: Even if Sasuke could see the attacks coming, if he didn't have the speed to dodge them, it meant absolutely nothing.

All of that just made this more enjoyable for Naruto.

He looked back to the mother/daughter duo next to him. Naomi was happily bouncing in Sakura's arms and the kunoichi was mumbling some words to the infant.

"Hey baby," Sakura told her with a smile on her face. "How cute are you?" she brought the baby closer to her chest, Naruto watching intently to see how Naomi acted around Sakura, not really having a chance to examine before. "You are just so precious." She placed a gentle kiss on the baby's head, Naruto feeling ashamed at the jealously he was feeling at his daughter. Naruto thought about performing a substitution to switch places with Naomi, but that wouldn't end well for him.

Naomi giggled as she hopped up and down in Sakura's arms. "Mommy!" she babbled her name for Sakura happily, some saliva creeping out of her mouth. Naomi didn't have a lot of teeth so spit naturally found its way out every now and then.

"Yes," Sakura didn't seem to mind that spit was rolling down her hands or she didn't notice. "Mommy is holding you right now. Your daddy is right here," Naruto gave his usual grin at his daughter, making her laugh and say "Daddy!" Sakura faced the infant to a very pissed off Sasuke and a smirking Lee. "That's your Uncle Lee and your Uncle Sasuke." Naomi watched with keen interest as Sasuke launched a fireball out of his mouth, falling desperate to hit the speedy little bastard that was known as Rock Lee. Naomi started to cry, Sakura starting to look her over. "What's the matter, sweetie? You hungry?" Sakura reached into the baby bag that Naruto had brought and pulled out a bottle filled with milk. She held the nipple to her mouth. "Want your milk?" Naomi grabbed the sides of the bottle and started to suck out the milk inside.

Naruto watched in fascination as Naomi drank the milk with no problem. "That's amazing! Every time I try and feed her, it takes me a long time to get her to drink it. You're really talented with kids."

Sakura nodded at him, pulling the bottle away when Naomi stopped drinking. Grabbing a rag, she cleaned the drops of milk that were on her mouth. Naomi went right back to what she was doing before and resumed watching Sasuke vs. Lee.

"She's really invested into the fight." Naruto noted, watching as Naomi laughed when either Sasuke was hit by Lee or when Lee was rarely hit by Sasuke. "I'm about to jump in now so I can show her how much her dad kicks ass."

"Uh-huh." Sakura nodded at him, seeming like she wasn't really paying attention to what Naruto was saying.

"Are you listening, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. He again received a lazy uh-huh. Naruto frowned before a sneaky smirk worked its way on his face. "Hey Sakura, wanna be my girlfriend?" he waited for her to give him the uh-huh he was expecting.

"Nice try," Sakura broke out of her trance-like state. "The answer to that is no."

"It was worth a try," Naruto shrugged, half-expecting her to have snapped out and say no to him. He was just seeing if she was paying attention to him. At least he knew now that she was. "Why are you seemingly ignoring me?" Naruto softened his gaze. "Did I do something?"

Sakura heard the worry in his voice and went to work in defusing it. "No! Naruto you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just… thinking." She seemed like she had trouble coming up with an excuse.

"About what?" the obvious question came from Naruto's voice.

'About how scary you look with red eyes.' Sakura didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to drop the fact on him that she saw him all angry and looking like a monster. She shrugged, "Just about stuff. About how close I am to finishing making Naomi's hat."

The reminder of the gift for his daughter made Naruto grin again. "I can't wait for it to get finished. I can't wait for Naomi to see the gift her mother's making for her."

"What gift?" Lee asked as he strolled over from the battleground he and Sasuke had claimed for their fight. "Did I miss something?"

"Kinda," Naruto shrugged. He looked on past the boy and saw that Sasuke was fuming with his Sharingan a blazing. "Kicked his ass really good?"

"We could've kept going, but Sasuke said to take a five minute break. Said I looked tired and I could use it." Lee shrugged.

"You look fine," Naruto examined. "If anything, Sasuke's the one who needs the five minute break. He looks like he's been through hell and back."

"I think that he wants the break but he doesn't want to admit that he's getting beaten and needs a rest. His pride probably won't let him." Lee guessed, looking back at the Uchiha boy.

"His pride doesn't let him do a lot of things." Naruto joked. Sakura had to giggle at that since it was true. "I bet if he really had to take a shit in someone's house and he didn't want to stink it up and someone asked him if he needed to use it, he would say no." Naruto looked to Sasuke. "Stubborn Asshole!" he yelled. Sasuke looked to Naruto and flipped him off, having heard him just fine.

"Asshole!" Naomi repeated happily, clapping her small hands together. Sakura gasped and Lee snorted out a laugh at how much Naruto's skin tone had paled. He looked paler than Sasuke did.

Sakura calmly placed Naomi on the ground, the baby sitting and picking at the grass. She then proceeded to stand up and slowly walk over to Naruto. She cracked her knuckles. "Did you just curse around my daughter?" Naruto slowly backed away, missing Sasuke looking with a frown. "You made my innocent little girl curse."

Naruto started to sweat, holding his hands up to signify surrender. "S-Sakura-chan, p-please don't hit me."

"Why shouldn't I?" she strutted over to Naomi's father, still looking dangerous in everyone's eyes. Sasuke kept his frown and started walking to them. "You should know to not curse around little kids, especially around babies. My little girl won't have a colorful vocabulary just because her dad doesn't know when to say certain things."

Lee would've backed Naruto up, saying that it was his natural instinct to curse at Sasuke, but he avoided doing so for two reasons. The first being that he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Sakura's attack and the second being that he suddenly frowned when he sensed something.

"She won't!" Naruto promised. "It was a slip-up, it won't happen again. Watch!" Naruto looked to Naomi. "Sweetie, please say something to Mommy."

"Asshole."

"You better run, Blondie!" Sakura warned as she picked up her pace a little bit. Naruto started backing away from his crush, not wanting to have his head punched off. He bumped into Sasuke, who shoved him away with unnecessary force, walking forward to where Lee was still standing. It was then Naruto noticed that Lee and Sasuke were both frowning at the trees for some reason.

"Guys?" Sakura halted her advance when she saw that Sasuke and Lee weren't doing anything. "What are you staring at?"

Naruto got his answer when Sasuke pulled out a kunai.

"I know you're out there! I can see you clearly!" Sasuke shouted. Lee got into his fighting stance too as he sensed someone there now that Sasuke confirmed someone out there.

Sakura and Naruto both now sensed that someone was definitely watching them. Both going into protective parent mood, they both started rushing to Naomi. "Grab the baby!" they yelled to Sasuke and Lee.

Before any of them can even move, Naomi disappeared completely. Sasuke and Lee started looking around frantically while Naruto and Sakura seemed to stumble. Both started having heart attacks. "Where's my baby!?"

"You mean this one?"

Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, and Sakura turned around to see a group of five people standing there, the guy in the middle holding Naomi, who didn't seem scared; just confused. The guy in the middle was around 5'9 with a superiority complex. He had black hair that reached his neck and boring black eyes.

Naruto felt rage at this guy seeing him hold his daughter. "Give… my… daughter… _**BACK**_!" a red aura started to shoot out of Naruto, his three friends looking from the group to him. Lee and Sakura recognized the aura while Sasuke was seeing it for the first time and because of his Sharingan, could see Naruto's chakra a lot more clearly then they could and could see that his chakra was gonna keep growing at this rate.

The guy holding Naomi smirked, "She's yours?" he examined both the baby and Naruto. He shrugged, "I don't see it. She looks more like that one with the red eyes and black hair." Sasuke growled at being addressed.

Sakura ignored that Naruto was turning back into the monster she was frightened of, only focusing her anger on the five in front of her. "If you don't give my baby girl back, I will kill the five of you slowly and painfully." That wasn't a lie. Sakura would torture the hell out of these five unless they gave Naomi back.

"The two of you had a kid? This young?" the one to the black-haired guy's left asked. Naruto turned to him and looked him over. He had brown hair tied into a ponytail and mischievous black eyes. "How did someone as idiotic looking as you get someone as hot as her?" he seemed perplexed at that.

Sakura didn't appreciate the compliment and Naruto didn't correct him on him and Sakura being together. Both were too angry to do anything else but glare and plot murder.

"Give my niece back or I will kill you!" Sasuke threatened, stepping forward.

"I wouldn't do that," the overweight one said. He was a little shorter than the other two guys, standing at 5'7. His brown hair was messy and matched his brown eyes that Naruto thought looked like shit.

"You should listen to Roxas here." The one holding Naomi smirked. "Wouldn't want to live knowing that you caused your kid to get killed."

The sheer threat of Naomi dead made Sakura want to cry and Naruto's aura grew. Any longer and he was gonna start attacking.

The last two, both looking exactly identical, both female and having long black hair and black eyes were giving Sasuke the eye that all females gave him. The only eye Sasuke wanted to give them was the eye of death.

"We'll ask one more time," Lee oddly sounded calm, but on the inside he was controlling himself and stopping himself from opening the gates. "Give the baby back and you can walk away."

"Nah," the one holding Naomi, who was reaching for her mom and dad, shook his head. "I kinda like the kid."

"Daddy?" Naomi looked at Naruto. Seeing his daughter call for him made Naruto's Kyuubi transformation halt, his eyes turning blue again. "Dada?" Naruto really wanted to pry her away and murder these five. Naomi looked to Sakura when she saw Naruto wasn't coming to her. "Mommy? Mama?"

Lee let loose some of his anger, "Give her back now! What do you want from us!?"

"We saw the four of you walk in to your village with Kakashi Hatake. You see, that man stopped our plan to raid a small village for their supplies a couple months back. We've been plotting our revenge for a while and when we saw the four of you walk with him, we figured we go after you to lure him out. But the baby here works fine," he shook Naomi, Lee holding back Naruto when he tried to run and take her back. He wanted to join him but if they rushed in, they would hurt Naomi.

"What're your names?" Sasuke asked.

"You talking to us, cutie?" one of the twins fluttered her eyebrows at him.

Sakura didn't feel rage at her for flirting with Sasuke, just rage that they were a part of the gang that had her daughter hostage. That surprised her but she'll worry about that later… after she tore that bitch and her twin's head off for taking part in grabbing her daughter.

"All of you. I would like to know the names of the people I'm gonna kill."

The guy holding Naomi shrugged, "You can call me Akio. This one here," he gestured to the one who called Sakura 'hot'. "Is named Ken. You know Roxas is the overweight one here and the twins are Akane and Akira. We tell whose who by who's the bigger bitch." Both Akane and Akira glared at him. "If you want her back, tell that sensei of yours to meet up with us a hundred kilometers from here so we can have our revenge."

Naruto elbowed Lee and started charging at Akio. His fist was extended and aimed for his face. Naruto's plan was to hit him, grab Naomi, and run back and get Kakashi. What he wasn't expecting was for the five of them to suddenly vanish and reappear on the dirt path.

"One more try like that and this baby won't live to see the next day." Akio warned the angry father.

"I got an idea," Sasuke spoke, earning him everyone's attention. "We fight. If you beat all of us, you keep the baby and we'll go get Kakashi. We win and you give her back and never come back. We'll each do one-on-one fights. To win, you must beat everyone."

Naruto growled, "Are you for real Sasuke!? You're gonna risk Naomi's life just for a fight!?"

"If you got a better idea that doesn't include us giving in to them, please, I'm all ears for it. I'm doing this to save her, Naruto. We won't lose. We're all too stubborn too." His Sharingan was still on and glaring holes into Akio, who wasn't fazed by Sasuke's glare.

Akio thought over Sasuke's proposal before nodding. "That seems fair. Follow us and we'll begin." Team 7 plus Lee followed after the five misfits to the battleground where they'll fight.

…

Landing on the ground, Team 7 and Lee were at an abandoned plain of grass in the woods deep into the forest. There were nothing but trees around here and you couldn't really see past them. Akio stepped back. "I'll fight last since I got the kid. The four of you decide who fights first."

"The numbers are uneven," Naruto pointed out. "There's five of you and four of us."

"I'll fight those two bitches together," Sakura growled at them. Naruto looked surprised. "They took my little girl and the three of you are too prideful to fight a girl." Sasuke and Lee didn't answer to that, as she was right.

"You're not fighting first then," Lee stood forward. "I'll go first." Naruto looked angry that Lee would agree to Sakura fighting Akane and Akira on her own. He knew she was strong, but to fight the two of them alone was stupid.

"I'm helping Sakura-chan fight them."

"Then you'll have two fights," Lee reminded.

"I'll fight all five if you guys will let me."

Sasuke sighed, "Lee don't try and stop him. He's made up his mind. Just finish your fight as fast as you can." Sasuke was gonna go first but he needed time to recover from the spar he had with Lee. Lee wasn't all that winded and Sasuke saw that he was giving him time to recover.

Roxas stepped forward, "You're fighting me, then."

Lee glared, tempted to take the weights off and to open the gates, but wouldn't show all his trump cards until necessary. Since Naomi was in danger and she was an important person to Lee, he had the conditions fulfilled to use the Primary Lotus without any problems.

"Let's go then."

Lee and Roxas charged.

End of Chapter 12 of The Fox's Cub

Yeah… hope you liked this chapter. It's just a setup for the fights.

Roxas has a key in why the five of them can just appear and how they got Naomi without Sasuke and Lee being able to stop them.

The number problem will be solved when someone, or rather a group, arrives. The sounds of these fights are gonna go a long way.

Next Time: Lee vs. Roxas


	13. Lee vs Roxas

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Just so you all know there is an oneshot I uploaded called 'Misadventures in Babysitting'. It's about Sasuke and Sakura watching Naomi, so if you can check that out, I would appreciate it.**

**Time for Lee to kick some ass in this chapter.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 13- Lee vs. Roxas

The spectators for the fight watched as Lee and Roxas circled one another, both waiting for the other to make a move. Well, Sasuke, Ken, and Akio were watching the two fighters. Naruto and Sakura were too busy glaring holes into the man holding their daughter, while Akane and Akira were eyeballing Sasuke. Both parents would more than happy jump them while they were distracted by the fight, but if they messed up and got caught, they might hurt Naomi. They couldn't take that risk. They would take their anger out on the battlefield when it was their turn to fight.

Lee had one hand balled into a fist, keeping his eyes focused on his opponent, whom stopped circling him and was now just waiting for Lee to make a move. Lee never liked making the first move in a fight, wanting to see how his opponent moved before he formulated a plan. But if this guy was just gonna stand around and not do anything, Lee would eventually have to make a move.

Lee started spinning with his leg fully extended before Roxas just vanished and reappeared behind him, startling Lee enough that he took the kick to the back and started stumbling forward from the hit. Lee didn't even see him move. The guy didn't even so much as breathe. How did he get behind him so fast? Lee would've seen him. Something wasn't right here.

Roxas smirked at him as he started walking towards Lee, not speaking any words as he pulled out a kunai and held it tightly in his hands. Lee, seeing the weapon as a threat, pulled out one of his own and waited for Roxas to come charging at him. Like last time, he vanished and reappeared in front of him, the sudden movement almost knocking Lee over. He was just barely able to parry the kunai as it tried to impale his stomach. He headbutted Roxas to create some distance between the two, jumping back to get a running start for his Dynamic Entry.

When he jumped and extended his leg, Roxas vanished again, Lee not being able to stop his attack and crashing into a tree, a foot sized hole in the bark. He pulled his leg out as he stared at the grinning Roxas. How was he vanishing and reappearing like if it was nothing? It wasn't pure speed, Lee noted, knowing how to keep an eye on someone when they were running. It had to be some kind of jutsu. The only question was if it was a Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. If was a Genjutsu, Lee was screwed.

"Wondering how I can keep vanishing?" Roxas' mocking voice called from across the battlefield. Lee didn't answer him, only narrowing his eyes as he waited for the man to answer, knowing that he was gonna eventually. "It's my Kekkei Genkai. I can slow down and manipulate time."

All four genin gasped at the reveal. They never heard of a Kekkei Genkai that allowed for someone to control time itself. That was unheard of. Lee was in trouble if that was true. If Roxas can slow down and play around with time, how was Lee gonna get to him?

Lee thought about it. There had to be some kind of catch to Roxas using his jutsu. Lee sighed as he sat on the ground, moving his hands towards his ankles, catching everyone's attention at what he was doing. He knew that the conditions were met. He was only allowed to take these weights off when someone dear to him was in danger. Naomi was really important to him and she was being held by these five people. He had to do it.

As he grabbed the weights that he always had on his ankles, he turned to his three friends and gave them a nod and grin, messaging them that this was when he got serious. He got a devious plan in his head, probably from all his time spending with Naruto, and threw the weights at Roxas, who didn't seem to care.

Roxas, getting cocky, held out one of his hands to catch one of the weights. You can imagine his surprise, as well as everyone else's, when the sound of cracking bone was heard when the weight collided with his hand. No doubt that thing was broken now. The second weight missed and landed a few feet behind him, a nice crater now appearing once it touched the ground.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all paled when they saw the crater that was made. '_Lee is a psycho._' They all thought, not understanding how Lee was able to move around with those weights attached to him.

Lee stretched his legs after he threw the weights, now smirking at his advantage. He knew Roxas was cocky based on the way that he kept slowing down time to mess with him and not take him seriously. All Lee had to do now was use his speed to outmatch Roxas' jutsu. And now since he broke his hand, he wouldn't be able to use any other jutsu he might have. It was all in Lee's favor now.

Lee ran, appearing as a blur, and stopped behind Roxas, pulling his arm back and sending the boy flying forward. It didn't stop there. As Roxas flew, Lee ran forward to get in front of him and got ready to use his Leaf Hurricane. His foot connected with Roxas' skull as the boy went back soaring where he was before Lee hit him.

Lee laughed, "Am I too fast for you?" he was definitely taking after Naruto with all the mocking he was doing in this fight. Either that or he wanted them to suffer for messing with them and taking Naomi. Lee wouldn't doubt that it was the latter.

Roxas growled at him, clutching his broken hand. He might've not needed it to use his Kekkei Genkai, but he still would like to have used it in this fight. He got too confident and now he was down one hand. This brat was a lot stronger than he gave him credit for.

"You can save yourself even more pain by giving up and giving back Naomi." Lee offered them another way out of this, not wanting things to get too far and he having to use the gates. If that happened, there was no way to figure out where this was gonna go. Lee didn't want to kill this man, but if he gave him no choice, he would have to.

Roxas' response was getting up and vanishing, showing that he wasn't gonna listen and back down.

As the two resumed their fight, Akio turned to Naruto and the rest. "Your friend here is really tough. No one's been able to find a way around Roxas' jutsu before. But I warn you, the four of us aren't gonna underestimate the three of you just because you look weak."

Sasuke glared at him for him thinking he was weak. It was a shame that he wasn't fighting that bastard. Naruto wanted to fight him and Sasuke figured that he had the most right to pummel him for taking his daughter. Sasuke would jump in and help him if he had to, not wanting to run the slight possibility of Naruto messing up and them losing Naomi.

"The five of you aren't gonna live to see the end of this day…" Naruto dangerously told them as Lee hit Roxas in the skull with his foot. "I'm gonna kill all of you for laying your hands on my little girl…" Naruto turned to look at his daughter, who didn't know that something serious was going on and was just giggling at seeing her Uncle Lee beating up Roxas. Naruto smirked, '_That's my girl._'

"Big words coming from a midget like you," Akio mocked him, forcing Sasuke and Sakura to grab Naruto to stop him from lunging across the field and attacking him.

Sakura placed her lips near his ear and whispered, "Its okay, Naruto. We'll get Naomi back."

The sound of Sakura's soothing voice calmed the anger that Naruto had. He stopped fussing in his friends' grip on him and stepped back. He went back to watching Lee beat the shit out of Roxas, taking a lot of joy in seeing one of his best friends pummel another man into the pavement. He felt someone grab his hand, but didn't turn to look. He could tell that it was Sakura from how soft the hand felt and Sasuke wouldn't hold his hand in a million years for anything.

Sasuke looked to his opponent, "You…" Ken turned away from watching his partner get beaten to look at his enemy. "You and me are next and I'm gonna beat you a lot harder than my friend here is beating your friend." Sasuke's Sharingan was ready to activate and his hands were ready to start punching. He hasn't hated this much since Itachi. He still hated his brother a lot more than he hated these guys, but they were definitely really close to matching his hatred for his brother. He loved Naomi. He would do anything to protect her and that included fighting these punks.

Ken laughed at him. "Roxas here might have an incredible Kekkei Genkai, but he's still the weakest out of all of us. Me, on the other hand; I'm the second strongest here behind Akio. You have no chance against me, little boy."

Now Sasuke was being held by Naruto and Sakura.

Lee flipped three times in the air, landing swiftly on a tree branch as he watched Roxas catch his breath. While the spectators were in their little argument, Lee found out how to beat Roxas' jutsu. Every time that the boy used his ability to slow down time, he seemed to lose how far he was able to go. In other words, when he first used it, he could sneak up on Lee no matter where he went and strike him. But the more and more he used it, his distance lessened and he had to get up really close to be able to attack Lee. Pretty soon, Roxas won't be able to keep using his jutsu and Lee could finish this.

Roxas was growing frustrated at the boy in front of him. Lee was messing with him now. He couldn't believe that a small boy was able to find out the weakness to his jutsu. No one did and if they did, they never lived long enough to find a way to counter it. But this genin did. He was using his speed to his advantage and to attack him and even if Roxas got behind him, Lee was able to use that speed of his to dodge.

Roxas didn't know it or didn't want to accept it, but the moment Lee took off the weights; this fight was his.

Lee eyed down Roxas as he growled up toward the bushy-brow genin. Now was the time to end this and get one step closer to saving Naomi. Roxas smirked, catching Lee off-guard as the boy started squatting and gathering chakra. His partners seemed to know what he was doing and started backing away, making the four Konoha genin question what was about to happen.

They got their answer when Roxas shouted. "I won't lose to a punk like you!" and he started getting bigger. It was a self-destruct technique! Lee moved as fast as he could and grabbed his three friends, running through the trees and back around as Roxas exploded in a suicide move to try and take Lee with him to hell.

The bright light from Roxas' technique blinded the four genin as all of a sudden, a barrier surrounded them, trapping them within and around forty feet. Naruto felt something overtake him as he felt the familiar chakra from the bridge. The red chakra surrounded the four genin, creating a shield that protected them from the explosion. Sasuke turned on the Sharingan and saw the remaining four from outside the barrier, laughing at them.

"We could run now…" Akio started. "But… after I leave a certain amount of feet from here, this barrier will shut down and your speedy friend will catch up to us. Not to mention that I am curious to see how strong the rest of you are. So, we'll keep up with the deal and start our next fight. Ken…" the next boy slipped in with the opening Akio made, eyeing Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles as he did. He was gonna have lots of fun with pummeling this guy. And now with this barrier, he would make sure that Ken didn't go anywhere.

Naruto panted from the use of his chakra and fell over on his ass, Lee and Sakura rushing to aid him.

"You alright, Naruto?" Lee asked him, concerned for the well-being of his friend.

Naruto laughed, "You kick someone's ass and save us and you ask me if I'm okay? I should be thanking you Lee. Thank you for helping us save Naomi." Naruto was grateful for the help that his three friends were giving him in saving his daughter. When this was over, he would need to find someway to make it up to them.

Lee laughed too, "It's no problem. I'm happy to help you guys. I care about Naomi and I'll do whatever I can to help save her."

Sakura was still concerned, "Are you okay, Naruto? That chakra you used was the same one from the bridge."

Naruto paled at Sakura's connection, needing to think of someway to try and play it off. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sakura-chan. That wasn't anything to be worrying about. I'm fine, really." He grinned at her to try and ease her off.

"After we're done here, you're telling me what that chakra was." She told him, leaving no room for argument.

Naruto sighed, not looking forward to the end result of this.

End of Chapter 13 of The Fox's Kit

I'm not the best with fight scenes so I'm hoping that I get better with practice.

Sasuke's up next for a fight.

The next chapter will be longer and we'll see Kakashi make a choice that Naruto ain't gonna be happy about.

BTW, which of these oneshots you wanna see from me?

-Sasuke and Lee being forced to go baby shopping?

-Team 7 on a family day with Naomi?

-Lee left alone with Naomi?

-Sasuke, Lee, and Naruto amusingly trying to take care of a sick baby?

-Naruto and Sakura spending a day with their adopted daughter Naomi?

I also might start that Konoha 12 vs. Akatsuki fic soon.

Next Time: Sasuke vs. Ken


	14. Sasuke vs Ken

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Sorry for the very long wait, but I had this chapter done on my computer but then it crashed and I don't know when I'm getting it fixed. So I'm doing this for my fans for this story by redoing this on my phone. You guys owe me for typing this again on my phone. Its quite a pain.**

**Thank you to AMATERASU999 for creating fanart for this story. He created a drawing of Naruto with Naomi and one of Sakura with Naomi. Its on deviant art and his username is THEUNTITLED999. Check it out.**

**I have another NaruSaku fic in production. Its called "The Dark in the Light'. Check it out. Please? :)**

**Also, vote on whether you would like to see Dark Naruto make in an appearance in this fic. Can you imagine the confusion for Naomi with two daddies? And with one of them being a douche, the possibilities are sure to be fun.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 14- Sasuke vs. Ken

Sasuke wasted no time in activating his Sharingan and running through his handseals for his trademark jutsu. He stared at his opponent, Ken; who was just staring at him, and glared hatefully at the blonde asshole. Sasuke always had the urge to fight stronger enemies to test his strength and see if he was getting closer to Itachi's level. Ken was the perfect candidate if he was as strong as Roxas.

But Sasuke didn't give a hell or damn about that. His only goal as of now was to save the baby that was giggling and clapping her hands at him. The baby that called him Uncle. The baby that actually uplifted his spirits when he held her. The baby that he admitted to caring and loving a lot.

The anger he felt at the four remaining scumbags, the one he was facing and the three that were safely behind the field barrier that that dick Akio made, was almost on par with his hatred for Itachi. He wanted these guys dead as much as he wanted Itachi dead. That was a big comparison for Sasuke.

'Hold on Naomi. Uncle Sasuke is gonna save you.' He can already imagine Naruto's remarks about what he just said. He had no shame in it. He loved Naomi and nothing was gonna change that.

"Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed out the ball of fire, burning the ground in front of him as it traveled the distance between him and Ken. The only thing that can suck is if Ken escaped through the barrier. He was gonna have to be faster than he was if that was the case.

Ken watched the Fireball come to him. His arms folded across his chest as he stared at it coming to him. He'll admit that the size was good for a kid so young, but it still didn't mean anything to him.

He can easily dodge out of the way from the attack; or cancel it with an attack of his own; or redirect it back at the little boy. All sounded really good, but not like the one he was thinking.

He could lead it out of the barrier and cause the death of the baby.

He could do that to break the spirits of all four brats here and use it to their advantage to lead Kakashi out. But he didn't want to kill a baby. He was cold, but nor ice cold. Oh well. Time for Plan B.

He stayed still as the fire engulfed him, all with a smirk on his face. He couldn't wait till the smoke cleared. The kid's expression would be so worth it.

Sasuke smirked in pride as he stared at the spot where Ken once stood. He had to admit he was a little disappointed in the short fight that only lasted one turn. For someone who claimed to be second strongest in his group, he sure did go down faster than Roxas had.

Now there were only three left. Since he still had full energy, he could help take on the other three opponents. Naruto and Sakura could take on the bitch twins while he locked fists with the asshole holding Naomi.

Just as Sasuke was about to challenge him, the smoke made from his fireball started to vanish; revealing Ken to be perfectly unharmed. Aside from the smudges on his clothes, he looked absolutely fine.

Sasuke couldn't believe it and widened his eyes to show his disbelief. It was a direct hit. How did it not work? He saw him get engulfed. The Sharingan doesn't lie.

"Hey! What the hell is that! Sasuke got him!" Sasuke found himself agreeing with Naruto. What happened? Did he miss something with Ken? The man still had his arms folded where they were when he attacked him. He didn't budge from his spot since he's stepped inside.

Was he messing with him? Is he honest to God messing with him?

Ken laughed, enjoying the look of shock that overtook the faces of the four brats. He was right. The expression was definitely worth it.

"You would think that Sharingan would make you tougher. But please tell me that pathetic jutsu wasn't you're best shot. I've seen babies around her age stronger than you." He pointed to Naomi.

Sasuke glared, "Don't you dare talk about her in any way. And no, that wasn't my best shot." Sasuke had other ideas, but that Fireball was his beat jutsu. Dragon Flame wasn't gonna work with the limited amount of space in here, so that ruled that out. He had to go with Phoenix Flower and hope that the multiple projectiles of fire would work. Not like he had any other choice right now.

Ken decided it was his turn to attack. He started walking slowly at first, but picked up space as he got closer to Sasuke. Sasuke dodged the first blow before he watched his own fist get avoided. He and Ken entered a blow exchange after that, dodging or countering one another's attacks. Sasuke's spars with Lee were surely coming in handy with the upgrades he obtained with his speed and strength. He owed that Bushy Brow bastard one.

He heard his friends cheering him on, telling him that he was gonna win and help get Naomi back. Sasuke was appreciative of the support, but the sight of the baby just outside the barrier is what drove him forward. The sight of her watching him is what kept him in the game. He would be damned if he failed now and let her stay in the grasp of this group of punks any longer than she had to.

Ken raised his elbow up, Sasuke preparing to block it. But he was stunned after he heard his name. It didn't come from Naruto; or Sakura; or Lee; or any of these four jackasses.

It came from Naomi.

"Sas-uke" the name came out slow, but happy and enthusiasticly. Naomi was learning new things and how to say new stuff. It was cute she learned how to say Sasuke.

But, cute or not, it distracted Sasuke for just one second. And that one second of distraction was enough for Ken to slam his elbow into Sasuke's head, the young Uchiha bouncing off the ground and across it two times before he stopped. That was one hell of a hit. Ken was a strong bastard for sure.

"Naomi," he heard Naruto and Sakura whine. "Don't help the bad people. You're supposed to help your family." Sasuke rubbed at his head. His Sharingan eyes caught Ken speeding to him again. Sucking in the breath he was about to take, he jumped out of the way. His eyes followed Ken as he started jumping up to catch him.

Sasuke blinked when Ken vanished. This guy was speedy like Lee was, but still nowhere close to him. He cursed that he couldn't find Ken, who all but disappeared off the face of the planet. Sasuke knew something was wrong when the other three stooges smirked and pointed behind him. Sasuke didn't get a chance to turn his head before he was sent slamming down into the ground, making a small hole from the hit.

Ken slowly started to come down, using his chakra as a parachute to fall to the ground slowly. He was slightly apprehensive to continue the fight. This Sasuke could hold his own against him, something Ken hadn't seen in a long time. The last person to hit him was Kakashi. He couldn't wait to get his revenge on the one-eyed bastard.

Sasuke felt his back get sore at the uncomfortable position he was in. His back pressed tightly against the dirt with his legs tilted up and his arms stretched forward. Ken really hit him hard to do this. Sasuke took back what he said before about this being a short fight. Ken was gonna keep him busy awhile.

He needed an idea. He could still see Ken hovering down slowly back to the ground. He looked distracted. This could be his only chance for an attack. He beamed. He got an idea and it was a good one.

He made double handseals, hoping that Ken would take the hit for one of them. He needed this distraction to get free. He needed to win. His little niece needed him. He couldn't stay in the dirt where Ken belonged himself. He deserved to be in the dirt and Sasuke would make him eat it if it was the last thing he did.

His fingers hovered over his lips. 'Take this you little bastard.' He blew the fireball out, but this one was different. This one had a little surprise inside. He smirked. 'Wait until you see this Ken. You'll just die from surprise.' Sasuke got ready to jump out when the fireball or the surprise inside hit home.

"I'm coming Naomi." Sasuke whispered to himself as he jumped out of the hole. Time for things to get serious. He was gonna end this fight now.

Ken watched the fireball come up to him, scoffing in annoyance as he did. Didn't this brat learn from the first fireball that he shot at him that it wasn't going to work? He came out practically unharmed from the first fireball, only letting his clothes get smudged from the heat, and even then he let it smudge his clothes. He didn't have to, but at least now he had an excuse to get some new clothes.

He sighed, ready to once again just dodge the fireball. You can imagine his surprise when out of the fireball out came mini ones. He wasn't ready for that to happen, so he took the brunt of a bunch of mini fireballs. This Sasuke really was a smart brat. He knew that he would let his guard down if he appeared to repeat what he was doing before when they first started fighting. Off topic, he really thought the baby calling Sasuke's name and throwing him off balance was funny as hell. But he still got hit by the fireballs, and barely moved himself out of the way to avoid the larger fireball. Ken fell to the ground in a smoking mess, his mind racing with ideas to get back at Sasuke and how to retaliate against him for the hits he got. He was not gonna lose to the Sharingan for a second time. Once against Kakashi was enough.

Sasuke landed out of the hole in a flip, smirking at his three friends when they nodded at him for taking Ken by surprise and landing some hits. Sasuke raised an eyebrow when he saw Naruto's hand being held by Sakura's. Sasuke's first thought was that she was trying to stop him from rushing in to help him fight Ken to save his daughter. That would be the rational thing to think, but Sasuke had a keen eye and good perception; and it wasn't just because he had the Sharingan. He watched Naruto and Sakura bond over time because of their decision to become parents to Naomi. That day he and Lee were forced by the pinkette to go baby shopping, they had come back to Naruto's place to find him and Sakura sitting on the roof about to kiss. But then Lee had to interrupt it with showing them a baby-sized version of his jumpsuit, to which Naruto countered by chasing him around the block to try and rip his head off. Sasuke had talked to Sakura about how happy he was for them getting closer and that it would be good for her and Naruto to give Naomi a real family by getting together. She never answered him, so he didn't know where she stood on what he said. But he did see that kiss on the cheek that she had given Naruto before she left. That supported the idea that Sasuke had of them just being a confession away from being together.

The feeling of his feet getting wet made him look down to see that the grass was getting soaked. It wasn't raining, it being as bright and sunny as can be, so he didn't know where the water was coming from. Based on the way the current was moving, it was coming from behind him. He turned his head to see that the twin bitches, he didn't care what their names were, were sporting water out of their mouths. Hey! They weren't allowed to help Ken! That was cheating. And to make things worse, he turned his head to see Ken soaked away of all of the smoke that Sasuke had worked hard to get on him in the first place. Ken glared at him before his hand started to form a small lightning ball. Sasuke paled when he came to the conclusion. Water + Lightning = Bad News for Sasuke. Sasuke tried to move, but the lightning ball was about to hit home on the water. No matter how fast Sasuke moved on, he was still gonna get electrocuted.

Ken was hit in the back of the head hard by Lee, while Naruto jumped to drag him out of the way from the electrocuted lake that these cheaters had made. Lee jumped back away before Ken could strike back, the four Konoha genin standing on top of a tree branch to avoid being caught in the impending mess below them.

Sasuke panted, "Thanks. But I would've found a way to escape on my own." His Uchiha pride came in to save his humiliation at getting saved by the twin idiots. He was still grateful, but there was still that sense of security that Sasuke had for his strength.

"Where? The lightning puddle there or hell?" Naruto remarked to his friend. He had enough of sitting on the sideline while Sasuke was getting double teamed by the remaining four ninja they were facing. He broke free of Sakura's hand, no matter how much he didn't want to, and rushed in to level up the playing field. Sasuke smacked the back of Naruto's head, almost sending the blonde boy falling off of the tree branch into the pit of death below.

"I can handle this on my own."

"Never said you couldn't," Lee knew how much Sasuke loved to have his pride intact, and since Naruto wasn't gonna help Sasuke keep it, Lee figured he could be the one to keep Sasuke's head into the game. "But they are cheating. It's only right that we cheat back and level the field."

"Lee's right Sasuke," Sakura agreed with the bushy brow boy. "They cheated. They know you were about to win, so they interrupted and tried to kill you before you could win." Sakura glared at the three smirking people outside of the barrier that Akio came up with. She's been examining the barrier to see if there were any weak points in it, but she so far hasn't come up with anything. Maybe the barrier was too powerful to be taken out from the inside out or maybe it was because her mind was fuming as she watched the bitch twins try and stroke her daughter's hair. _**HER**_daughter's hair. Sakura was leaning it to be the latter. When it was her turn, she was ripping their heads off and was gonna hang them proudly in her room and take a shit in them if she didn't feel like going to the bathroom. She had many ideas for those two sluts and the torture she was gonna use on them in their fight.

When she saw the one named Akane move to kiss her baby, Sakura ripped a piece of the tree branch off and threw it with all her might; ripping through the barrier and piercing Akane's skin. Sakura didn't care about the accomplishment of getting through the barrier. All she was happy about was that she stopped the bitch from touching her little princess.

"Bitch! If you touch my daughter, I'll freakin' kill you!"

Akane glared up at her, "It's on, you flat-chested whore!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee all slowly turned to look at Sakura. Her eyebrow twitched and her hands slowly balled at her sides. Sasuke looked to Naruto and Lee. "I'm gonna go back and fight. One of you stay and hold back that time bomb." Sasuke jumped to the next tree, where he faced Ken; who watched everything go on with amusement. Sasuke saw Sakura get the tree branch through the barrier and now he had many more ideas going through his head about how to beat Ken. He actually had one all ready. He had his hand going through the back of his pouch to grab two kunais and some string. Before he could put his plan into motion, he heard Sakura scream about how she was gonna rip the bitch a new asshole for calling her flat-chested. If Naomi grew up to have Sakura's temper, they were all screwed. Sasuke still felt bad for Naruto and Lee though. They were the ones stuck trying to hold her back.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the comedic display, not gonna make the same mistake twice by getting distracted and getting an ass-kicking by Ken. He already had one of those and with the soreness in his back, he knew once was enough. Sasuke threw the two kunais on the left and right side of Ken, his opponent not batting an eye to what he was doing. Sasuke could admit Ken was strong, but he was still too cocky. He probably thought that he had bad aim. That was fine. It made things easier for him. Before Sasuke could pull the string he attached to the kunais, Ken launched five lightning balls at him. Sasuke shook his head as he jumped back from the blast radius, the momentum of his jump tightening the strings and making them close at a speed that matched how fast he moved when Sakura got pissed. Ken was pinned to the tree outside of the barrier that he aimed for, remembering what Sakura did and how only they seemed to be able to get out the barrier, and squirmed to try and get loose. Sasuke panted before he made the four handseals for his newest technique.

"Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Sasuke let the flame travel down the strings and to Ken. Sasuke watched as Ken's eyes widened and he got engulfed by the flames Sasuke knew that this time he wasn't gonna get away as that string was some of the finest that was ever made. It was impossible to break out of it, so Sasuke knew that he just killed Ken. Did he care? No. Why? Because he was one step closer to saving his little niece from the remaining three bastards. He and Lee had taken two of them down and now there was only three. Now it was four on three and not five on four like it was when they started. They had the advantage in numbers, but they still had the baby. So it was a standstill with advantages.

"Shame for Ken. Kinda liked him too. Oh well, if he couldn't beat a brat; he didn't deserve to live. Probably would've killed him myself after this was all done." Akio slowly examined the inside of his barrier that he made. The 'pit of death' they made was finally gone and they can now walk on the grass again. Didn't mean that it still didn't stink from the lightning and fire that scrapped it. He looked to the twins Akane and Akira. "Go on, and don't make me want to kill you." They nodded before they stepped into the barrier, Sakura jumping down to the ruined grass to meet with them.

Naruto jumped down to meet with her. He shook his head when she started giving him a look. "No. I said I was gonna help you fight them. I'm not gonna let you fight them alone. You're strong, if you ripping that tree branch is any indication," Sakura smirked while Akane glared at her. "But Naomi is my girl too and I'm not gonna let her mom fight alone."

"Naruto, don't take this the wrong way; but you don't know something about mothers." He was confused. "Nothing is more dangerous than a protective mother."

"Amen to that Sakura." Kakashi said as he jumped down on the other side of the barrier. Behind him were the Guy, his team, Kurenai and her team, followed by Asuma and his team. After an explosion went off, the four jonins decided it would be a good idea to check it out and their teams tagged along for the ride. They made it just in time to see Sasuke finish off some blonde guy that was pinned to a tree. Everyone minus Kakashi and Guy were confused at the sound of Sakura calling herself a mother. When did Sakura get a kid? "Mind telling me what's going on here? Why are you four fighting B-rank and A-rank criminals?" Their eyes widened. These guys were B and A-rank criminals?!

Akio smirked, "Hello Kakashi. Since you're here now, I don't really need to hold this kid for ransom anymore."

"Hurt my daughter and I swear to God I'll kill you!" Naruto was threatening to use the Kyuubi's chakra to blow a hole in the barrier and rip Akio to shreds. These last two hours of just watching his daughter in the hands of the enemy was driving him crazy and was tempting him to use the Kyuubi chakra to kill Akio. But first things first, he needed to help the mother of his child fight these two twin bitches.

"Did I miss something?" Ino had to be the one to question what was happening in front of them. "When did Sakura tolerate Naruto, let alone have a kid with him?" She turned to the observant Shikamaru. "You're smart. Can you understand what's going on?"

"Why does it matter if they have a kid? Shouldn't you be concerned that our allies are trapped in some barrier with three crazy psychos?" he asked.

"I'm just curious that Naruto and Sakura have a kid, that's all. Jeez!"

Hinata looked crestfallen. 'Naruto-kun has a baby? With Sakura-san?'

"That kid looks nothing like Naruto," Kiba pointed out.

"Looks more like Sasuke's kid." Choji answered, Shino nodding in agreement with him.

Ino screeched. "Sakura had a kid with Sasuke-kun?!"

"Oh my god, someone kill me." Sakura was so embarrassed. All the energy she had ready to fight was gone and replaced with embarrassment. She wasn't embarrassed about Naomi. Just the fact that people were making a big deal out of it when it wasn't that big.

"I'll be happy to oblige," Akane glared at her.

Her sister turned to Naruto. "You know that you're cute, right? Why don't you move on up instead of being stuck with her." She pointed to Sakura, who was growling now at Akira. Both sisters were now on her shit list.

"Don't talk about Sakura like that. She's way better than you will ever be. She's a great friend and a fantastic mother. She's not a bitch like the two of you are. She's in a league of her own that you two will never reach!" Naruto ranted to the two enemies. He missed Sakura's blush that also became a league of its own.

The two rolled their eyes, "Whatever. It's time for you guys to die!"

And Fight number 3 had started.

End of Chapter 14 of The Fox's Kit

We'll get an explanation on how Kakashi and the rest got there next time. Also, I brought them all in here for a few reasons. You'll see what they are soon.

Also, will you like to see Dark Naruto make an appearance in this story?

And be sure to check out my other NaruSaku fic 'The Dark in the Light'.

Time for Mommy and Daddy to kick some ass.

Next Time: Parent Beatdown


	15. Parent Beatdown

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Thank you all to the wonderful reviews that were left for the last chapter. We now past 200 reviews for this story. That's a wonderful accomplishment. I just wanted to say thanks again.**

**You'll all be glad to know that the fights end this chapter and we can pick up the Chunin Exam arc, but not with more fluffy NaruSaku moments in between.**

**You'll also be glad to know that there will be a small sequel for this around the end of Part 1 where Naruto leaves with Jirayia that will show how Sakura balances her training with Tsunade with raising Naomi while Naruto's gone.**

**I'll also be trying my best to update this story regularly and after Saturday, I'll most definitely be able to do so.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 15- Parent Beatdown

Kakashi sighed to himself as he examined the barrier that was trapping his team and Lee on the other side. It seemed like every time he left these kids alone, something always happened that got them into trouble or something abnormal had happened. First Naruto had found his daughter, although that wasn't really that bad in its own right; then Naruto and Sasuke had been forced to go toe to toe with a dangerous B-rank missing-nin during their mission to the Land of Waves; then Lee had been forced to go against that same ninja while Sasuke had almost been killed defending Naruto. And, to top it all off, they were now in a fight for their lives to save Naomi against a bunch of dangerous criminals. Kakashi knew these criminals. He had stopped them from raiding a small town that was as poor as the Land of Waves was. He left them tied to trees with the warning that if they came anywhere near this town again, they were gonna regret it. He didn't know that they were for sure gonna come back for revenge against him; although the thought had crossed his mind at some point over the last few months. And because of his stupidity and being easy-going about the whole thing, his students were now in danger.

He visibly winced when Sakura took Akane in a chokehold and slammed her fist into her face repeatedly. Sakura was also spouting a bunch of insults to Akane about how she was gonna make her pay for touching her little girl and was gonna rearrange all parts of her body in some weird and messed up type of fashion. Even Naruto and Akira stopped their fight to stare at Sakura pull on Akane's leg, cursing her out to some new level that Kakashi found hilarious. He was now sure that Sakura was gonna affect Naomi's vocabulary worse than they all feared Naruto would do. Every time Sakura cursed at or hit Akane, Naomi giggled and clapped at her mother's performance. She even giggled when her daddy tried to calm Sakura down with the insults while he avoided what ever Suiton jutsus that Akira threw at him. Kakashi almost forgotten how smart these guys were. He was proud of Sasuke for being able to take one of them down. They were using the water that still stained the ground to their advantage to try and outmaneuver Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi remembered Akane and Akira being a tag-team force that he could admit was not smart to mess with if you weren't experienced in battle. But the key to tag-team fighting was having both ninja work together.

And Sakura was making that hard with how she kept her hold around Akane's neck.

Kakashi was feeling fear at Sakura for the first time since he met her. This same girl that fainted from a Genjutsu of Sasuke not even a month ago. This is what Kakashi called development.

And it was all because of that baby that was now in the hands of Akio.

Kakashi remembered exactly what he was doing before he had caught sight of the explosion. He was going over to the Hokage Tower to tell the Hokage about Naomi. He knew that if it was kept secret any longer, that the consequences would be dire for them for keeping an infant from the Hokage that he had no knowledge about. His intention wasn't to have Naomi taken away. No. Quite the opposite actually. He was gonna request immediate custody of the infant and then give Naruto sole rights when he was older. After everything that the boy has been through in his life, he deserved to at least keep this baby that he loved a lot in his life. He knew how much the baby was cared for by the entire team, himself included, and didn't want her gone; just wanted to get the impending questioning by the Hokage out of the way before it reached a level where no one would win. He would do anything to keep the baby in their lives. But before he could make it to the tower, the explosion rang out and he caught sight of it. He abandoned his original mission to the Hokage Tower and rushed off into the forest of Konoha where he knew the explosion came from. Along the way, he met up with Kurenai and Asuma and their teams, who had been training and seen the explosion; deciding that they should tag along with him for safety in numbers. Guy had joined up soon afterward with the remainder of his team, having seen the explosion too. And that concludes the story of how they all met up and made it to the battleground where his team and Lee were fighting. They made it in time to see Sasuke finish off the one he remembered as Ken.

He caught eye with Akio, who smirked and silently dared him to try and save this baby and stop the fight that was going on between his students and Akio's partners. Kakashi felt anger for the first time in a very long time. Seeing the smug smirk on this guy's face made him want to ram his Lightning Blade right through his chest. Poor little Naomi didn't see the danger that she was in, probably thinking that her mommy and daddy were just playing a game with someone.

"Kakashi..." Guy's voice broke him from his train of thought. "Are we really just gonna sit here and let Naomi stay in their clutches?" Guy had a point. Kakashi already had an idea all ready to get to Naomi and get her back before he would swoop in and take down Akio. But they just needed to wait for the right time. They needed the right time and Shikamaru for this plan to work.

"No. Trust me, Guy; I have an idea." Kakashi looked to Asuma. "You don't mind if I borrow your student for a minute, do you?"

Asuma laughed and shook his head. "I see where you're going with this. Great idea." He pushed Shikamaru over in the direction of Kakashi.

Kakashi looked down to Shikamaru, "You see that man holding the baby?" Shikamaru gave a quick look over before he lazily nodded at Kakashi. "I need you to-"

Shikamaru held up his hand. "Yeah, yeah; I got it. I know what to do." Shikamaru gave a quick overview of the area to find where the sun shined the most and let his shadow expand. The plan was pretty obvious. Trap Akio in the Shadow Possession and then to grab Naomi before they would jump Akio and take him down. He let his shadow make its way over to where Akio was still standing and watching the beat-down that Sakura was giving to Akane, now pulling her hair and trying to yank it out of her head. Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Kiba's holler of "the most awesome cat-fight ever." Shikamaru figured out the story of the baby really fast when he saw the interactions between Naruto and Sakura and their reactions to their guesses on the paternity of the baby. It wasn't Sasuke's, due to him not even caring about having a relationship with any female. It wasn't Naruto's or Sakura's either, due to it not looking anything like them. But, Naruto still called Sakura her mother. It was obvious after that.

The baby was adopted by Naruto and Sakura.

Shikamaru didn't really care if Naruto and Sakura decided to become parents this early. They had headbands. They were now considered adults in the eyes of the village. They could do whatever they wanted to. If it didn't affect him, he wouldn't butt in. And even if it did, he wouldn't do anything about it due to his laziness.

Once Sakura rammed the head of one of their enemies into the barrier wall and the man holding the baby laughed, Shikamaru knew that it was his time to act. He connected his shadow to his, the look of laughter on the man's face changing to one of shock and confusion. Shikamaru nodded over to Kakashi, who circled the barrier in record time and waved at the baby before he took her from the man's hands. Once she was safe, Asuma and Kurenai jumped to him and tackled him to the ground, but not before Shikamaru disconnected the shadow to avoid feeling the pain. His job was done, now he can sit back and just enjoy the breeze that was coming in.

...

Sakura looked over from her beating of Akane to see Naruto holding the fists of Akira. It looked as if Naruto hadn't even hit the girl once. Sakura heard Akira ask him why he wasn't trying to hit her. Sakura was wondering the same thing. Why wasn't Naruto, the father of her child, trying to beat the snot of one of the bitches who kidnapped their baby? If Naruto didn't punch Akira soon, Sakura was gonna take a break from her bitch beat-down to go and beat down on Naruto.

"I don't like to hit girls. No matter how much I wanna rip them a new one for taking my daughter." Sakura found that admirable and adorable, but there was a time and place to be cute and there was a time to be a fighter. This was one of those times where Naruto needed to stop holding on to his stubborn ideals and to be a rage-induced dad. And by the look of rage that he was trying so hard to hide, Naruto just needed one more push to start going on the rampage Sakura knew he wanted to go on.

And it came in the form of Akira pushing his buttons, "Your daughter is really cute. Don't you think she deserves a mother that is as cute as she is? Why would you let that pink-headed bimbo be her mother?"

Naruto balled his fist at his side and within the quick span of two seconds, he socked Akira in the jaw; spiraling her into her twin sister. Naruto growled in their direction as he wrapped an arm around Sakura. He wasn't thinking right now. The only thing going through his head is that Sakura's feelings might be hurt and he needed to bring her spirits back up.

"Sakura is breathtaking. There's nothing ugly about her. She's beautiful on the inside and out and she's the perfect mother to my daughter. Everything that comes out of your mouths about her is just bullshit. You don't know anything about her. You're just jealous that she's beautiful while the two of you are just ugly pieces of shit."

Sasuke and Lee whistled in amazement at Naruto's rant about Sakura. Anyone that didn't see the growth that happened between these two parents and knew Sakura before would think that she would snap and tell Naruto to shut up. So it sure came as a surprise to their academy classmates when Sakura only blushed and thanked Naruto instead of sending him bouncing across the barrier.

The twins gasped, "How dare you call us ugly?! At least the two of us aren't flat-chested like that bitch!"

Naruto smirked, looking up to Sasuke and Lee with a pleading eye that begged them to help him hold Sakura back if things got too ugly. They held their hands up, rubbing their hands across random parts of their body that told Naruto that they were still hurt from their fights. Naruto scoffed. Those two were definitely lying just to avoid having to deal with a rag-induced Sakura. Those smart bastards.

"It's easy. Watch..." Naruto cleared his throat, "You two are ugly pieces of shit that look worse than the giant shit I took last night." Kiba hollered at that one, Naruto smirking in pride at his joke, happy it got someone to laugh. He even saw Naomi laugh from Kakashi's arms. Naruto did a complete one-eighty spin, turning Sakura with him. Kakashi had Naomi! When did that happen? "Sakura! Kakashi-sensei has Naomi!"

Sakura forgot all about her anger at the two bitches, happiness and relief replacing the anger and embarrassment she was feeling about being called out on her chest size. She felt tears of relief well up in her eyes. "My baby... my princess. You're safe." Sakura flipped Ino off after she saw her start to smirk and open her mouth to try and say something. She turned her head back to see Akio being apprehended and the twin bitches start to pale. Akio was being held at knife-point while he grumbled and did handseals, the barrier deactivating and allowing Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee to venture back into the outside world. Sakura cracked her knuckles while looking sweetly at Naruto. "Naruto. Do you mind checking on our baby while I finish this up?" Naruto was about to open his mouth before he saw her look to Shikamaru, who sighed before he repeated the Shadow Possession Jutsu, trapping Akane and Akira in place.

Naruto nodded, "I will... after I give Akio here a punch to the face for leading the charge to take my daughter." Naruto walked past the twins, waving mockingly and pitting them for having to take a Sakura punch dead on at full strength with nowhere to run. He faced Akio, balling his fist as tight as he could before he hit Akio as hard as he could, three of his teeth coming out. Naruto glared. "As much as I wanna kill you, I'll let you live in prison knowing that you got outsmarted and trapped by a bunch of kids. For a bunch of A and B-rank criminals, you guys aren't really tough at all."

Sakura nodded before she stepped in front of Akane, smirking and waving her fist in her face. "This is for calling me a flat-chested bitch." With one hit, Sakura sent her flying through two trees. She stepped in front of her frightened sister. "This is for taking my baby girl." Unlike her sister, Akira was sent soaring thirty feet into the air for ten seconds before she landed on the ground hard. Sakura smiled sweetly down into the small hole she made. "If I see you near my baby princess again... I'll kill you. Okay?" Sakura patted her leg before she skipped over to Kakashi, ignoring all the stares she was getting before she took her baby, smothering her in hugs and kisses. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Naomi laughed, "Mommy... Love... You."

Sakura hugged her as tight as she would. "Mommy loves you too. So much."

Naruto was just finished flipping off Akio as he was lugged away by Asuma and Kurenai, passing by Kakashi and Guy as they scooped up the unconscious Akane and Akira. He stepped behind Sakura, smiling down to his adopted daughter. He wrapped his arms around Sakura so he can stroke Naomi's hair and cheek. "Daddy is so happy that you're safe. He was so scared." Sasuke and Lee hopped down to the ground, glaring at the prone figures of Akane and Akira and the glaring face of Akio. "He's never gonna let you go away again." He kissed her forehead.

"Love... Daddy." Naomi giggled.

Naruto smiled. "Daddy loves you and your mother." He realized what he just said and slowly looked to Sakura's eyes, waiting for her to say something. That was the first time that he said outloud that he loved Sakura. Sure he said many times that he liked her and cared for her, but he never said that he loved her. He waited for the hit to come or the speech of him saying something he wasn't supposed too. Instead, he felt one of her arms wrap around him and a soft feeling on his cheek. Did Sakura just kiss him?

Sakura smiled. "Mommy loves you and daddy too." Sakura did love Naruto, but she wasn't sure if it was true love type. She did love him a lot as a friend though. Sasuke's words from last week came to her head about how Naomi deserves to have her parents together and she did feel like that was the right thing to do. Maybe one day she'll give it a chance, but for now; her and Naruto were just gonna parent Naomi while not dating.

Now that she got her daughter back, she wasn't gonna lose her again. She was gonna be a better mother now with Naruto and the rest by her side. But now there were gonna be extra problems...

And they were the group of teens that were watching them.

"Sakura... please explain what's going on. Who is this baby?" Ino had to be the one to ask her. Sakura was so kicking her ass later.

Team 7 sighed before they started telling the story as they walked back to the village. They couldn't hide Naomi anymore. She was now gonna be public news and, if they were being honest with themselves...

They were happy about that.

End of Chapter 15 of The Fox's Kit

Kinda short, but now we can move on to bigger and better things.

Time for Rookie 9 interactions with Naomi. That's sure to be fun.

Some filler of Naruto/Sakura and Naomi will happen before we hit the exams. I'm trying to stray away from the usual canon rewrites.

I hope you guys enjoyed and hope to see a review. The more I get, the faster I upload.

Next Time: New Family


	16. New Family

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Yeah, I finally got this computer to work now, so I'm happy about that. Now I can update more often.**

**We get more NaruSaku in this chapter, with Naomi of course. We're gonna have a few chapters of just NaruSaku family and romance moments before we hit the Chunin Exams. **

**I'm also gonna stop naming the chapters for a personal reason. Sorry if anyone gets upset by this.**

**Also, check out a note at the end of the chapter for a future Naruto story.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 16- New Family

Naruto rolled his way off of his couch as the morning sun shined on his face. Sleep still stained his eyes and clouded his mind, not liking to be up so early unless necessary. Naruto thought that after having a daughter for awhile he would be used to waking up early to tend to her and her needs, but he still slept in sometimes and never really jumped to life unless Naomi started crying. He knew that probably wasn't a good thing to do if you had a kid, but he couldn't help it if his body wouldn't wake up before it was ready.

Thinking of his daughter, Naruto took a moment to remember everything that happened yesterday. His baby girl was kidnapped and held for ransom by a group of ninja that wanted to get to his sensei. Naruto felt his anger return from the other day as he thought about the bastards who took his baby. He was upset that he didn't get more time to beat the punks who took her. Strange satisfaction coursed through his veins and a small grin formed on his face as he replayed Lee and Sasuke's fights with two of the ninja, laughing silently at each punch that his friends managed to land on them. He also almost laughed out loud when he replayed Sakura's beating of one. He just loved the way that she stepped up and fought to save their daughter. It made him love her more.

Naruto's mind went racing back to the moment where he was forced to confront Hokage-jij about Naomi. Kakashi had told him that he couldn't hide her anymore now that a lot of people knew about him having her and that he has to tell the Hokage about her. Naruto was scared to do it, his fear of Naomi being taken away taking him over. He was close to just taking her and running as far as he could, intending to come back later on when things calmed down and people forgot who she was. It was the only thing he could think of that would let him keep his baby in his life. He had to be held down by Lee so he didn't take off and Sakura held Naomi so he didn't try and grab her and run away. He couldn't forget that look of hurt that was on Sakura's face.

"Don't you want people to know that we have a baby? Are you regretting letting me be her mom and don't want anyone to know about your mistake?"

Naruto had quit fighting and walked into the office of the Hokage with Naomi on one arm and holding Sakura close to him to let everyone know that she was his daughter's mother and nothing was gonna change that. Of course Lee and Sasuke had given their presence for support in favor of the baby staying, along with Kakashi, but Naruto wanted it to be clear that Sakura was the most important person regarding Naomi and her life and nothing would change that.

The conversation that he had with the Hokage wasn't actually as bad as he thought it was gonna be. He thought that there wouldn't be any conversation in it and that Naomi was gonna be taken away and brought to the orphanage as soon as he stepped inside the office. But, Hokage-jiji listened to him when he said that he loved this girl and wanted to keep her in his life. When he mentioned that he wasn't comfortable letting Naruto keep a kid when he was just one himself, Sakura had come to his rescue and said that he was technically seen as an adult because of the headband on his forehead and that he wasn't a kid anymore. Sasuke had also stated that he was doing something right if Naomi was still alive, prompting Naruto to flip him off from where he stood. The silence afterwards was the worst, Naruto scared that even after everything they said that the Hokage was still gonna say no and take her. But that wasn't the case here. All he said was that he wanted weekly updates on what happened and for Kakashi to check in on him at least once a day. Naruto couldn't control himself then as he jumped across the desk and bombarded the Hokage with a bear hug, Kakashi having to pull him off when he felt it became too much.

Naruto had taken Naomi back home after that with Sakura in tow, the pinkette not wanting to be separated from her adopted daughter so soon after getting her back. Sasuke and Lee would've gone too, but Kakashi and Gai requested that they both get checked out for any injuries they might've received from their fights with Roxas and Ken. Sakura and Naruto were fine, the only injuries they received having been the fear of losing their daughter to criminals.

Sakura's first words when she went into his apartment were how much he had it looked like a small little nursery. Naruto almost couldn't believe just how much his apartment had changed from a dirty mess to a home for a baby in the span of a few weeks. If someone would've told him last month that his apartment was going to become the way it was now, he would've laughed and ignored them. He moved a crib for Naomi into his bedroom so they could sleep in the same room together. He had a changing station in the living room with toys littered across his floors. Naruto didn't mind this mess. It reminded him that there was a little girl that loved him and needed him.

Sakura hadn't wanted to leave Naomi last night, so Naruto told her it was okay for her to take his bed if she wanted to and he would sleep on the couch. Sakura didn't want to do that to him, but being the stubborn guy that he was, he made her take the bed and said that she wasn't gonna be sleeping on his couch. Sakura thanked him with a cute smile and hug before they both worked to put their daughter to sleep. Once Naomi started sleeping, Naruto took that as his cue to leave and go to sleep himself.

Bringing himself back to the present, he slowly stood up from the floor that he landed on, slow enough that he didn't get dizzy and fall back down. He stretched his arms above his head and felt the muscles crack. He took a step to the bedroom in which his daughter and crush were sleeping before he felt something at the bottom of his feet and almost tumbled back down to the ground. He saw that he slipped on Naomi's toy bunny. He sighed. He was gonna have to learn to watch where he was going before he fell and hurt himself.

He pushed past the toys on the floor and to his bedroom door. He couldn't hear anything on the other side, so he assumed that Sakura and Naomi were still sleeping. He didn't want to just barge in and Sakura ranted at him for lack of privacy or something like that. He gently pushed the door open, taking a glance that was quick enough for him to see, but not too long where if Sakura needed privacy that she would see him. He saw that she was still laying in his bed, rolled onto her side, her back given to him. Naruto noticed how she was clutching something small in her arms. Silently walking into the room, Naruto was greeted with arguably the cutest sight he's ever seen in his life:

Sakura was hugging a sleeping Naomi close to her.

Naruto noticed how even in sleep, Sakura radiated an aura of protection around the baby. She really was protective over the baby girl, even more so after what happened yesterday with Akio and his band of misfits. Naruto wished that the remaining three were dead and not in prison, but he was the one who spared them and he couldn't take his answer back now. He was gonna have to ask Lee and Sasuke if they were okay at the fact that they had killed someone.

Naruto remembered the looks they had gotten after leaving the Hokage Tower and parting with Sasuke and Lee. People were looking at him with the usual anger, but there were more confusion looks then there were angry looks. Naruto watched Sakura hold the baby close to her and glaring right back at anyone who seemed to scream danger to their baby. He wasn't sure if he thought that sight was cuter or the one he was looking at right now with his adopted daughter held securely in her arms.

Naruto smiled as he walked closer to get a better look at the two of them. Naomi looked so peaceful wrapped in her mom's strong arms. Naruto could smack himself for his choice that he made when he first found Naomi to not let anyone else come into her life. If he would've followed through with that or if Sasuke would've never found out about her, she would never have the loving mother that she has now or the uncles that fought tooth and nail to save her. Naruto almost stopped his little girl from having a family. His goals with her involved her having a full family that would love her and be everything that he didn't have growing up and he almost stopped that from happening. A part of him hated himself for that.

He examined down at his baby girl, who seemed to be slowly waking up from her slumber. Naruto moved his hand across her cheek, stroking it softly to calm Naomi back down into sleep. This sight was just so cute. He didn't want it to be taken away so soon. Naomi calmed down and went back to the way she was before. Sakura tightened her hold when Naomi started fussing.

"It's okay, sweetie. Mommy's not gonna let anyone take or hurt you again. She'll hurt anyone who touches you." Sakura whispered, her eyes still closed as she leaned forward and planted a kiss on the back of Naomi's head. "I love you."

Naruto's smile grew at the gesture between the mother and daughter. Any interaction he saw with Sakura and Naomi always made him feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. He knew that Sakura was special, but his love for her grew each time he saw her with their daughter. Naruto still couldn't get over the fact that he and Sakura had a daughter. The two of them had a baby girl together. He's dreamed of possible scenarios between him and Sakura having kids together, but he had doubt that they would ever happen due to her feelings for Sasuke. But now, after their time as parents together, he was living out one of his many fantasies with her. The only difference was that they were younger, not married, and Sasuke wasn't a douche and a part of their child's lives with the addition of Lee.

Naruto didn't know how long he was staring at his daughter and her mother but knew that it had to be more than a few minutes. He couldn't help it. The sight of Sakura holding their baby girl protectively was just too cute. He was happy that he had a chance to have his own family now after not having one for his whole life. This was literally a dream come true and too perfect. But there was something that Naruto wished he thought about more before he became really involved in the family. He sighed as he rubbed his hand across his stomach.

His status as the holder of the Kyuubi was still private knowledge to everyone.

He didn't want this to blow up and break away the family that he now had. He didn't want to lose Sakura, Sasuke, Lee, or Naomi because of him being the holder of the Kyuubi. They all became too important to him for him to lose because of something that he had no say in. He hated lying to them by not telling them about the Kyuubi and Sakura demanded to him to tell her what that chakra was that he used to protect her, Sasuke, and Lee from Roxas' explosion. She didn't bring it back up, but she wasn't one to forget things. She might ask him today if she wanted to and Naruto still didn't have a cover story that he could use to tell her. He just hoped and prayed that he got another miracle and Sakura didn't remember that he used abnormal chakra.

Naomi was waking up again and Naruto figured that the baby slept long enough. Naomi's eyes found their way to her daddy, her sleepy eyes brightening and giggles escaping her lips as she held her arms out for her daddy to take her. Naruto was close to picking her up before Sakura opened her eyes at around the time Naomi started giggling. It was like Sakura grew this sixth sense that activated each time Naomi was around. Naruto deduced that it was her motherly instinct.

"What's the matter, honey? You wanna go with daddy?" Naomi's struggle to get to her dad was all the answer that Sakura needed before she let go of the hold that she had on her daughter. Naomi crawled to Naruto before the blonde boy scooped up his baby. Sakura sat up, "Thank you for letting me sleep here." She thanked him with a small smile on her face.

Naruto smiled back, adjusting his grip on Naomi so she can see her mom and him. "It wasn't that big of a deal. I understand that you didn't want to leave Naomi so soon after what happened. If she lived with you, I probably would've asked you to stay too." He assured her that her staying wasn't a problem with him. In fact, he welcomed it very much.

Sakura nodded, "And I would've said yes like you did for me." Hard to believe that a few weeks ago she couldn't stand to be anywhere near Naruto. She used to loathe him and wanted nothing to do with him, but now she enjoyed being around him. She had become the mother to his adopted daughter and they've gotten closer because of it. He was now no longer the annoying moron, but the loving father to a beautiful baby girl, although he was still annoying from time to time. It was fine with her. It was who Naruto was and strangely, she didn't want him to change for anything. He was fine just the way he was. A loving dad and an amazing friend. She couldn't think of a better combination. The comments he made about her to Akane and Akira really hit home in her heart. She never felt so flattered or adored before in her life. She really wanted to pay him back for the nice comments he made about her, but she didn't know how.

Naruto smiled at her as he stared at her emerald colored eyes. He was happy to hear that from her. He remembered clearly what he said yesterday about her to Akane and Akira and he was worried that Sakura might not like what he said, despite their recent bonding. So he was surprised when she smiled and even blushed at his compliments. Even the kiss that she had given him after getting Naomi back was a surprise to him. It wasn't something that he saw coming. He couldn't help himself from complimenting her if he could. She was being put down and he wanted to bring her spirits back up. He couldn't stand to see her upset. He loved her smile and wanted it to stay on her face for the world to see. She was a beautiful person inside and out and everyone, her especially, should know and see that.

"I was thinking," Sakura stood up from Naruto's bed, standing close to him and Naomi. She gave her baby a peck on the forehead. "Our little princess here deserves something after… almost getting hurt yesterday." Sakura didn't like to say out loud what happened yesterday with the gang of enemy ninja and her daughter almost getting hurt. It only served to remind her just how bad of a mom she was yesterday.

Naruto found himself agreeing with Sakura, but something else was formed into his mind, inspired by what she just said. Of course Naomi deserved something after what happened yesterday but Naruto felt that Sakura deserved something too. She was such a good mom to Naomi and Naruto wanted to pay her back for it. He wanted her to have something for taking it up on herself to be the mother to his little girl, something that he would never be able to thank her enough for. Getting her something would be a start.

"What should we get her?" he asked, moving to allow Sakura to smile down at their daughter. The irony of the whole thing was that Naomi had appearances that matched Sasuke's but a smile that was that of both of her parents. Naomi had traits from every member of her little family. Her dad's bright smile, her mom's cuteness, her Uncle Sasuke's appearances, and her Uncle Lee's energy.

Sakura thought about it before she brightened with an idea, "A new toy!" she smiled at Naomi. "Any toy she wants." Naomi seemed to like this, laughing and clapping her hands at the idea of getting a new toy. Sakura just couldn't get over how cute she was. "You like that sweetie?"

"Mommy." Naomi reached out of Naruto's hold and over to Sakura's, the pink-haired girl taking her from her dad's grasp. Naomi buried her head into Sakura's shoulder, her giggles muffled.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Naomi really does deserve a new toy if she wants one."

"We'll go to the store after I go home and freshen up." Sakura looked down to examine herself and almost snorted in disgust. She looked horrible. She slept in her clothes from yesterday and didn't have a chance to freshen herself up. She didn't regret it because she was able to spend more time with her daughter, but the feeling of ick was still there.

"You still look beautiful." Naruto said the words that first came out his mouth. He was thinking about taking Naomi to try and provide him with some kind of shield from Sakura's possible wrath, but then he would get close enough to her where she can grab him if necessary. He was gonna have to wait it out and see where this went. Maybe he'll get lucky and she'll just blush like last time… or kiss him… he definitely wouldn't mind another kiss from her.

Sakura blushed at the compliment she received. "Either way, I think I look like crap and I'll feel a lot better after I go home to freshen up." She handed Naomi back to Naruto. "I'll meet you two at the toy store in a little while. Don't buy anything without me there." She teasingly warned the two. She gave Naomi a peck on the forehead. "Bye Sweetie."

"Daddy doesn't get a kiss?" Naruto jokingly asked, not intending for Sakura to take him seriously about it or to even hear him. That joke was meant for his ears and for his ears only. He didn't expect for Sakura to roll her eyes and actually give him one on the side of his head. This was turning out to be a good morning for Naruto. The only thing that can make it better is if ramen fell from the heavens and he was handed the Hokage title.

"Like I said, I'll see you two there." Sakura then left to give the daddy and daughter duo some time to prepare for their journey to the toy store.

Naruto looked down to his daughter. "Do you think Mommy likes Daddy?" with how much Sakura had been warming up to him and treating him better than she had before they became parents, there was this part of Naruto that was hoping that maybe, just maybe, Sakura might actually start developing some feelings for him. It was a long shot, but with the friends and family he's gained in the last few weeks, Naruto was now sure that anything was possible.

Naomi's response was a giggle. "Mommy love Dada." She clapped excitedly. Naruto has been noticing that Naomi's been talking in more complete sentences lately. Naomi was only one-year-old from Naruto's and everyone else's guess, but she was talking like if she was older. Once she settled in and grew closer to her small family, she's been talking a lot more with tons extra energy. She definitely got that from Lee.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks for making Daddy happy. He loves you." He kissed Naomi's forehead. "You know, I just noticed… you have your mom's forehead." He noticed, comparing Naomi's forehead to Sakura's. "And it's beautiful just like hers." Naruto completely missed Sakura staring at him in surprise from the doorway.

Sakura had come back in to ask Naruto which store they would go to when she overheard his words. They struck some kind of feeling in her heart strings. A feeling that she couldn't quite understand. It made her feel really good. It made her feel like she was more special than others. And strangely, it was Naruto that always made her feel this way. The only other time she felt this flattered and special was when Sasuke praised her forehead. Strangely, the words that he said were kinda similar to the ones Naruto told their daughter. Sakura was a little peeved that her daughter had her forehead. It caused her problems and now she was worried her daughter would have those same problems she had. If she ever saw her little girl come home crying because of someone making fun of her forehead, Sakura was going to go on a rampage. She would be damned if her daughter was teased for her forehead like she was.

She quietly slipped out from the apartment before Naruto saw her and figured out she heard him. His words about her forehead played through her mind as she walked back to her house, making her smile despite the small discomfort that she was feeling for the inevitable confrontation that she was about to have with her parents.

Her parents.

The ones that she didn't tell about her decision to become a mom.

Sakura did not want to think about how her folks were going to react to the news of her becoming a mom. They were already stubborn and strict beyond description and the news of their daughter's choice to become a parent might send them into states of shock or make them forbid her from seeing her daughter.

Sakura wouldn't give a shit if they 'forbid' her from seeing Naomi, the pinkette never going to abandon her little girl, but it would make things just a little bit more difficult for her and her job as a mother. Would she tell her parents about Naomi? Maybe. Anytime soon? Hell no. They would only go on and on about how she was too young to be a parent and all this other bullshit that she didn't want to hear.

She stepped into the front door of the house that she lived in with her parents, going past them and giving small answers to where she was at last night. She finished training late and stayed at Ino's house. She apologized for not telling them she was gonna be late and went into the bathroom to wash off the muck and dirt she thought was there. She didn't want to worry about her parents' reaction to her decision to be a mom. She had her daughter waiting for her.

Just thinking of her baby girl brought a bright smile and feeling to Sakura.

…

Naruto and Naomi walked through the streets of Konoha, well Naruto walked and Naomi was riding on his shoulders, looking for a toy store to go to. Naruto felt stupid for not talking with Sakura about what store they should meet up at. Now he was either gonna have to go to her house or walk around like an idiot until he hopefully found her. Going to her house, however, was gonna be his last resort. If he showed up at her house and her parents saw him, the outcast of the village, with a baby; things were not gonna go good on his part. They would get him in trouble somehow for showing up to their house with a baby that they didn't know about, unless Sakura already told her parents she was a mom. Naruto wouldn't put money on that last one.

Why?

He wasn't being chased down by an angry pair of parents for making their daughter a mother… at least not yet anyway.

He ignored the looks he was getting from people. He ignored both the stares of anger and the stares of confusion. It was abnormal that he had a baby so young, yes, but that didn't mean that he was a free show for everyone to watch for their amusement. He wished that he had that stare that Sakura used to ward off anyone who stared at them when they had Naomi. It definitely worked to get people to stop staring at them.

He moved his baby from his shoulders down to his arms, radiating a protective aura around the small child. Naruto didn't care what these villagers did to or thought of him, but if they looked at his princess in a wrong way or threatened to hurt her, Naruto was gonna drop all restraints he had and go crazy. He was not having a repeat of the incident yesterday. He was never gonna lose his daughter again.

"Naruto." Said blonde turned his head to see Sasuke and Lee standing behind him. Sasuke looked around for something. "Where's Sakura?" Sasuke and Lee were asked to stay overnight for observation to make sure that no injuries were missed in their examination. Sasuke hated staying in a hospital after what happened with Itachi. It only gave him nightmares that he really did not want to have again.

Naruto relaxed when he saw it was just Sasuke and Lee. "She's freshening up at her house. She spent the night with me-"

"Yosh! Naruto-kun and Sakura-san have finally decided to get together. The Flames of Youth are definitely strong in you two!" Lee interrupted with his usual rant and yell about youth. Sasuke bit back the snicker that was threatening to come out while Naruto gasped in surprise. Naomi let loose her usual giggle, holding her arms in the direction of Lee. Lee grinned widely before he took the baby from Naruto. "How's Naomi-chan doing today?"

While Lee talked to the baby, Sasuke smirked over in the shocked Naruto's direction. "So… what did you and Sakura do last night?"

Naruto shook his head so fast that Sasuke thought it was gonna loosen and go flying off his head if he shook it any faster. "Nothing! She didn't want to leave Naomi after what happened so I let her stay the night. She slept in my bed-"

"Kinky."

"Shut up you perv!" Sometimes, just sometimes, Naruto missed Sasuke being withdrawn and closed shell. He preferred a more social Sasuke than a brooding one anyway. It was because of his daughter that he became so open. Whether Sasuke wanted to admit it or not, he loved Naomi as much as he or Sakura did. "I slept on the couch… in the _**other **_room." He made sure to emphasize where he was to Sasuke to get that smirk on his face to drop.

"It's not nice to lie, Naruto."

"Shut up…" Naruto whined. He turned his head to look around before his eyes fell on a toy store. To make things better for him, there was a jewelry store across from it… and it was having a sale! "Lee, come with me! Sasuke… go play with the toys with Naomi." Lee was confused when Naruto quickly took his daughter and handed her over to Sasuke before taking his arm and dragging him away towards a jewelry store.

Sasuke was now left alone with Naomi, who was trying to pull herself in the direction of the toys. Sasuke sighed before he started walking in that direction. Entering the store, he saw the weird smiles he was getting from people, mostly young females. He cursed that Naomi looked too much like him. Now people were gonna think that she was his. He wouldn't mind if she was, but still… the headaches of having to explain over and over again that she wasn't his would get annoying really fast.

"Who's this beauty, Uchiha-san?" And there was the first of many questions that Sasuke was gonna have to deal with.

Sasuke sighed in the direction of the thirty-year old that seemed to work in the store, if her name tag of 'Asuka' was any indication. He sighed a second time. "She's my niece." He explained for the first out of possibly hundred times.

"She's so cute." She gushed in the baby's direction, who struggled to get out of Sasuke's grasp to get to the toys. Sasuke set her down. "If you need anything, just holler." Sasuke shrugged before she started walking away. She turned her head back. "You know… I have a daughter around your age…" she left it hanging for Sasuke to figure out. And he did. Many times over the last few years.

"Interesting." He mumbled. He missed the look of excitement that crossed Asuka's face. He had no idea that he just agreed to meet her daughter.

Naomi grabbed a hat, one that seemed to be a conductor's hat. She held it to Sasuke. "Uncle Sasuke." She seemed to want him to put it on.

"Oh hell no," he shook his head. "I am not wearing that." Naomi's lip shook, Sasuke knowing where this was going. "Don't think you crying is gonna change my mind." The tears were falling. "Don't…" Naomi started crying, hurt that her uncle didn't want to play with her. Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned before he got on his knees and took the hat from her, placing it on his head; shame and embarrassment coursing his veins. "See? I'm wearing it." Naomi stopped crying and started laughing. Sasuke wanted to crawl in a hole and die of shame. Everyone was looking at him now. "Kami… please strike me down now." He begged as he got sucked into playing with toy trains with his little niece.

And a large part of him liked it.

"S-Sasuke-san?" Sasuke could've slammed his head into the floor repeatedly if he wanted to, but then Naomi might hit him over the head with one of the toys she was holding. She did it once to Lee when she was playing with her sippy cup and he was doing push-ups next to her. He looked over slowly and saw that it was just Hinata. At least it wasn't Ino or any of his other fangirls… which was pretty much every girl but her and now Sakura.

"W-what're you d-doing here?" Hinata asked. Hinata was just walking through the store and she saw Sasuke, the guy she only knew as quiet and stoic, kneeling on the ground wearing a conductor hat playing with toys. If that wasn't grounds for weird she didn't know what was.

Sasuke thought about throwing the hat off of his head, but Naomi looked so happy that he had put it on. He didn't have the heart to make her cry again. Naruto would kill him… or Sakura would for making her baby girl cry. Sasuke shuddered. The hat was staying on.

"Naruto made me come in here while he went somewhere else. I'm babysitting for a little bit." Sasuke shrugged, doing his best to try and look as cool and calm as he always did. He was fine with acting differently around Naruto, Sakura, and Lee, but with other people, people that he didn't know so well… he wasn't comfortable with it.

Hinata nodded slowly. It was then Sasuke noticed that she was holding a doll in her hands. Sasuke gestured to it. "What's with the doll?" Hinata gasped and quickly went to hide it behind her back. Sasuke almost laughed. Almost. "Is it a present for someone?"

Hinata bowed her head to avoid Sasuke's gaze. "K-kinda." She muttered. Even if he looked funny and not the least bit intimidating, Sasuke still gave her chills down her spine. She looked down to the laughing baby playing with the trains. "It's f-for her." Her face started turning into that unhealthy shade of red that she was known for.

Sasuke blinked, "For her?" Hinata shyly nodded her head down in the baby's direction. Sasuke was really confused now. Why was Hinata getting Naomi a doll? Hinata didn't even know about Naomi until yesterday. What reason could she have for getting her a doll?

Sasuke put on his thinking cap. Hinata bought a doll for Naomi, who was a baby. She was Sakura's and Naruto's baby… Oh! Sasuke just figured it out. Hinata had a crush on Naruto, which wasn't exactly shocking news, and she bought his daughter a doll. She figured by buying his daughter a doll, she can get him to acknowledge her.

Sasuke had to admit that was smart.

But there were a few problems. The first problem being that Naruto didn't know of Hinata's feelings due to him being as dense as a brick, being the only person possibly that didn't know of Hinata's feelings for him. The second problem was that Naomi wouldn't switch Sakura for Hinata. The little girl loved Sakura way too much to trade her for Hinata. The third problem, which Sasuke was sure, was the most important one…

Sakura was starting to fall for Naruto.

Sasuke was perceptive. He saw how Sakura was slowly changing from him to Naruto. She never ignored Naruto now; she never hit him as much as she did; only when Naomi repeated a curse word he said which Sasuke always found funny. She blushed at his compliments instead of getting annoyed by them and even kissed him. Naruto liked her and if Sakura would return his feelings, he would take her over Hinata in a snap. Sasuke guessed how fragile the Hyuga girl was and knew that if she tried too hard, she was only going to get hurt in the end by the subtle growth of feelings between Naruto and Sakura.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate you getting Naomi something." But he couldn't do it. He couldn't just say it outright that she was wasting her time and only going to hurt herself in the end. He wished he could be an asshole to her to help her avoid getting hurt later in the future. He probably gave her the wrong idea now. If Hinata kept pursuing and got hurt, Sasuke would probably feel guilt for indirectly egging it on.

Hinata smiled. "T-Thanks."

Sasuke was smart and stayed quiet this time, being sucked back into playing trains with his niece. Last thing he needed was to suddenly give her the confidence to ask Naruto out.

Sakura would kill him.

…

Naruto finally stopped dragging Lee into the direction of the store, letting the bushy brow boy go and glancing around the store. This was the perfect place for him to get Sakura a present for being such a good mom to Naomi. There were many things here that ranged from bracelets to necklaces. Naruto just had to find which one could go well with Sakura. It had to be special like her.

"Why'd you drag me here, Naruto?" Lee was hopelessly confused right now. One minute he's leaving the hospital with Sasuke; the next minute he's holding Naomi, and the next minute he's being dragged by Naruto into a jewelry store. It was a confusing morning for Rock Lee.

Naruto didn't look up as he eyed all the shiny pieces of jewelry behind the glass. "I need help trying to find a present for Sakura-chan."

"Is it her birthday or something?" If it was, then Lee would do some shopping as well. He knew the troubles of forgetting a girl's birthday and not getting them something. He rubbed the spot on his face where Tenten slugged him last year.

Naruto shook his head. "No. I just wanna get her something as a way of saying thanks. Thanks for being a great mother to Naomi."

Lee nodded in understanding. "I'm sure you don't have to get her something. She does it of her own will and she enjoys being Naomi's mother. You don't have to get her anything."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. But I want to. I brought you here to help me find something, not to try and talk me out of it." Naruto laughed when Lee did and continued looking through the rows of pieces of jewelry, trying to find which one would go well with Sakura.

Lee spotted something he thought was good. "Hey, Naruto. How about this?" Naruto turned to see what Lee was looking at. It was a necklace with a golden chain and a small pink 'S' and a pink 'N' dangling from the middle of the chain. It was like the necklace was made for the mother and daughter duo.

Naruto grinned. "This is perfect! Good eye, Lee. Who knew you were good with stuff like this!" Naruto quickly called for an employer to come and help get the necklace out from behind the case. "I can just tell that Sakura-chan will love this…" Lee nodded with a smile, glad to be of help to his friend. As Naruto paid, he missed the smug smirk that crossed his lips. "And if she doesn't, I can just say it was your idea."

Lee paled. "You wouldn't…"

Naruto grinned, pocketing the now purchased necklace into his ninja holster. "Yes I would." He skipped back off to the toy store where Naomi and Sasuke were, outpacing the stunned Lee. Before he could hear Lee's protests of blaming him if on the off-chance Sakura got mad, Naruto and Lee were greeted with the funniest and strangest sight of all time:

Sasuke was wearing a conductor hat while playing with toy trains.

Naruto stifled his laugh… for a second before he completely lost it and busted out laughing.

"Looks like the emo Sasuke Uchiha isn't as tough as he says he is."

Sasuke jumped off the ground and landed on his head, the hat falling off as he scurried up to try and make it look like as if he wasn't just playing with toy trains. He glared at Hinata and Sakura, who had finally found them after walking around for a little bit.

"Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"

Sakura smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke-kun. I honestly did not see Naruto coming this way." She looked to Hinata. "Did you Hinata?" Hinata shook her head with a smile on her face. "See? No one saw anything."

"You guys suck."

Sakura ignored him and looked to Naruto. "Look, Naruto; Hinata got Naomi a doll."

Naruto grinned. "That was so nice of you, Hinata. You didn't have too."

Hinata blushed up a storm as she tried to hide it from him, mumbling a very low "You're welcome." To him.

Naruto smiled at his daughter as she had fun playing with the toys. He kneeled down to her. "Hey princess,"

Naomi looked up to her dad. She laughed as she showed him a blue toy train. "Daddy."

"You like that one?" her giggle was all the answer that he needed. He scooped her up and looked to Sakura. "Looks like we found what toy she wants."

Sakura nodded. "Let's go pay for it." She dragged him by his free arm as he held onto Naomi, who in turn was holding on tight to her new toy.

Sasuke turned his gaze to Lee, who the entire time since he and Naruto got back, was trying not to laugh at the position Sasuke was in when they came back. "Don't… you… dare." He warned the bushy browed boy as he saw the giggles start to escape his tongue. Lee nodded before he calmed down and retracted all the traces of humor that he felt.

And one look at the discarded hat had him laughing again, which earned him a glare from Sasuke.

"Sorry… sorry…" Lee repeated until he finally stopped laughing. He looked to Hinata. "That was very nice of you to get Naomi a doll."

Hinata blushed again, the poor girl looking like she was getting sick. "I-it was n-nothing."

"No. It was something. You know that Sakura is the only female that Naomi has in her life?" Hinata looked up. She did not know that. But where was Lee-san going with this? "She could use an aunt or sister figure." Hinata gasped. Her? Her an aunt to Naomi?

Sasuke nodded. "It doesn't seem like that bad of an idea. If we don't balance Naomi out with girl interaction, she'll get Sakura's temper… and the last thing we need is another Sakura." He quickly looked behind to see that Sakura didn't hear him. Thank Kami. He wanted to keep living.

Hinata giggled at Sasuke's logic. He could be really funny and normal when you got to know him and spend time with him. But back to the topic on hand, could she be an aunt to Naomi? She didn't mind. The baby was so cute and Hinata would like to spend more time with her. Both because she warmed up to the girl and because it would mean more time with Naruto.

"So, what do you say, Hinata?"

"What?" Naruto asked as he and Sakura returned from the counter. Naomi was still playing with her newly purchased toy.

"We just thought that Hinata could be an aunt to Naomi." Lee explained.

Sakura looked to her in surprise. "Really?" Hinata bowed her head, avoiding Sakura's gaze. "Do you want to?" Hinata looked back up in surprise. "It would be a big relief to have another girl to help. These three are a handful to deal with and I'm about to lose my mind."

"Hey!"

Hinata smiled. "I-it's okay?"

"It's more than okay! It's perfect." Sakura was thrilled to have another girl into the family. Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee were starting to annoy her beyond breaking point and she was about to go crazy. At least now there was gonna be another girl.

"Welcome to the family, Hinata."

And the family grew.

End of Chapter 16 of The Fox's Kit

There's no NaruHina so calm down before you go crazy. If anything, I'm deciding for a SasuHina or LeeHina.

Like I said before, no more chapter names for a personal reason.

About that new Naruto story: It's something I had an idea of doing for a long time but never really started. It's an AU, set in modern world, where Naruto is a teenage police officer living in the most crime-ridden city of Konoha and must balance out his career on the force with normal teenage life.

I might do this once I wrap up Part 1 of The Fox's Kit. If you wanna see me do it, just tell me in a review.

Next Time: Chapter 17


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Thank to all who left me a review for the last chapter. It always brings a smile to my face when I see you guys tell me how much you like the chapter. You guys are the reason I write this.**

**This chapter is, how can I say this... as short as a grain of sand. I, being the moron I am, forgot to add this to the last chapter. This is a bridge chapter to the next original arc before we hit the famed Chunin Exams. It won't be a long one, only two chapters, and is important to Naruto and Sakura's relationship and I know, or hope, you guys will enjoy it as much as I will write it.**

**There will also be more Rookie 9 and Naomi interactions in the next chapter. Who's ready to see Shino, Kiba, and the rest spend time with Naomi? I know I am.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 17-

"Come to Mommy, Naomi."

"Come to Daddy."

"Come to Uncle Lee."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he leaned against the base of a tree, Hinata next to him. He watched his friends kneel and gesture for Naomi, who was standing on her feet just a few steps away from them, to come to them. Sakura decided that the day was young and they can head on out to the park so Naomi can practice her walking. That spiked the bet of who she would walk to. Sasuke didn't know what the stakes of the bet were, but he wanted no part of it when he saw the mischievous look that crossed Lee's face, and he figured Hinata didn't either. She was the only other sane one in this weird family that had formed to give the baby that was currently walking a life. Sasuke was just happy now that there was another level-headed person in this family besides him and, on occasion, Sakura.

Sasuke looked to Hinata, who was watching the walking baby with a small smile on her face. "What made you decide to join up with us?" at the sound of his question, Hinata yelped at his direct question to her. Sasuke almost sighed. He wasn't that intimidating, was he? And even so, Hinata's seen him with a train conductor hat playing with toys and with a baby. If anything, if he threatened her or tried to look intimidating towards her, she shouldn't take him seriously. Either he was really scary or she was easily frightened. "What I mean is... Why did you decide to become part of this dysfunctional family? We have two morons, one short-tempered girl, and a mopey avenger. If anything, I would stay as far away from us as possible." he tried for humor to get her to calm down around him and to show that he wasn't that scary. The scariest thing he's done was kill Ken for helping to take Naomi and the fact he didn't care. But she didn't need to know that.

Hinata let loose a small giggle. Sasuke can be funny when he wanted to. She didn't yelp because she was scared of him. After seeing him in that hat and playing with the toys, Hinata wasn't sure she would ever be scared of Sasuke again. Once you peeled back the rough exterior of his image, he was as soft as the grass they were standing on. She yelped because she was lost in thought as she stared at Naomi walk to Naruto and Sasuke's voice startled her. She shook her head.

"I-I don't r-really know." Hinata might've not been afraid of Sasuke, but she still didn't want to say that she joined to get closer to Naruto. Hinata saw that he still had obvious feelings for the mother of his adopted baby, and Sakura seemed to be returning them if the way that she acted with him after they got Naomi back was any indication. She was angry at first, the part of her that liked Naruto getting angry at the revelation that he and Sakura had a kid. It didn't put her mind at ease when she found out that Naomi was just adopted. The looks and love that Naruto and Sakura showed the baby were that of any real parent would give to their child. They loved her even if she was adopted. This baby was getting Naruto closer to Sakura, so Hinata guessed that it could work for her too with Naruto.

Sasuke smirked, "It wouldn't have to do with the bouncing idiot over there, is it?" Sasuke pointed to Naruto, who was now jumping up and down on the dirt, begging Naomi to come to him and not to Lee, who she seemed to be walking to. Sasuke was kinda worried that Naomi was gonna fall with how she was wobbling as she took each step. He was ready to catch her if she fell. He didn't want to see her cry again. It hurt that he made her cry back at the store and he would give anything to not have to deal with that again.

Hinata turned red as Sasuke hit the nail on the head. "Ummm..." Hinata tapped her fingers together, a common tick she had when she was nervous or didn't know what to do. Did she lie or did she admit to the truth? Hinata supposed that a bit of an exaggerated truth would do well to the Uchiha survivor. "I-it's because of N-Naomi..." Sasuke waited for her to continue, more patient nowadays after dealing with Naruto and Lee on a daily basis. "S-she's just s-so adorable."

Sasuke nodded. He understood. That's exactly how he got sucked into being a part of this. He found out about her, saw her, and was instantly drawn in... And because Naruto kinda forced him into it, but Sasuke forced him to tell Sakura and Kakashi about her so it was kinda even between the two of them. If anything, Naruto owed him.

"Yeah. She is adorable isn't she?"

"She kinda l-looks like you."

Sasuke groaned. Another one? Hinata thought that too? Just how many people were gonna tell him that Naomi looked like him? Yes, Naomi had black hair and eyes like he did. It didn't mean anything. Just a small resemblance between the two. But it was that resemblance that made Sasuke drawn to her other than her cuteness. There was something about her that he still didn't figure out. It was something that's been bothering him since he's seen her for the first time. There was just something about her that intrigued him. He's seen her eyes before. He knows it. He just needed to think hard to figure it out.

A tug on his pants threw his thinking off. He looked down to see Naomi holding onto his shorts for support.

She smiled up at him, "Uncle Sasuke?"

Hinata smiled. "That's s-so cute."

Sasuke felt his cheeks redden as he grabbed Naomi and held her. He didn't know why he was blushing. He was an Uchiha and Uchihas don't blush for anything. He felt them get hotter when Naomi snuggled into his shoulder and the chorused 'aww' that came soon after. Sasuke was sure he looked like a softie now. He was so sure that if somehow, someway, if Itachi held Naomi, he wouldn't look like the psycho that he truly was. Sasuke blinked. Why did he think that?

Naruto pouted, "Naomi!" he whined. "You were supposed to come to Daddy, not Uncle Emo." Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch.

"He's not so emo anymore with that baby in his arms." Lee explained. Sasuke felt like handing Naomi over to Sakura or Hinata and going nuts against these two. He saw Lee look to Naruto with a smirk. "You lost the bet, Naruto?"

Naruto glared. "Yeah! Well you didn't win either, Bushy-Brow." Naruto ignored the eyes that were on him now. He and Lee made a bet that if Naomi went to Naruto, he could wait to give Sakura that necklace he bought for her. He panicked at the last second and didn't give it to her in fear of her wrath. Lee said that if Naomi didn't do go to him, he would have to give it to her in the next twenty-four hours.

Lee shook his head. "Technically, I said if she didn't go to you then I would win. And since she went to Sasuke, you lose the bet."

"What bet are you guys talking about?" Sakura asked.

Lee opened his mouth to say, but Naruto tackled him and put him in a headlock before he could get the words out. The other three genin watched this with mixed looks of amusement and looks of confusion. The only one who was laughing, however, was Naomi. "Daddy funny!" she clapped.

"Are we sure she's only one?" Sakura asked, looking her daughter over. "She seems too advanced in her speech to be a one-year-old."

"Is she two now?" Sasuke asked, holding Naomi out to get a better overview of her.

Naruto and Lee stopped their fight to get involved in the conversation. "What? Is she now two?" Naruto's eyes widened. "She's two now?! We gotta throw her a birthday party or something." All traces of his annoyance with Lee were gone in a flash and now replaced with panic and excitement. Excitement that his baby girl was older and panic because now he had a birthday party to plan.

Sakura squealed, taking her daughter from Sasuke and hugging her. "My baby girl is growing up!"

"Now we gotta plan a party?" Sasuke could guess where this was going. And he was right when Naruto grabbed Lee's wrist before grabbing his own wrist. He was going shopping for a baby... again. As if the first time with just Lee wasn't torture enough, now he was stuck with him AND Naruto. Some Uchiha just never have any luck.

Sakura looked to Hinata. "You don't mind coming with me to get some shopping done?" Hinata shook her head. Sakura grinned. "Let's go! Girls will get decorations while guys get food." She looked off into the distance where the guys were slowly getting farther away. "Did you hear that, Naruto?" Lee gave a thumbs up to let her know that they all heard her. Sakura smiled at Naomi. "Excited for your party, sweetie?"

Naomi giggled. "Party!"

Hinata smiled, "She r-repeats words?"

Sakura groaned. "Yes!" Hinata was confused at her tone. "Naruto cursed a few times around her and now she knows those words." she explained. Hinata nodded. It made sense why Sakura found that annoying. Any mother wouldn't like her kid cursing. Sakura sighed, putting her smile right back on. "Doesn't matter now. We got a party to plan for the cutest daughter ever."

"Y-you're right." Hinata said as the three girls departed back into town to get party supplies.

They were determined to make Naomi's 2nd birthday a memorable one.

End of Chapter 17 of The Fox's Kit

Yeah, not my best chapter and the shortest yet.

Now we gotta see Naomi's birthday and if Naruto will follow through on the bet and give Sakura that necklace.

The next chapter will be planning her party and the next one after that will be the party itself.

Out of all Konoha 11, which member are you excited to see interact with Naomi. They'll all have their time to shine with her in the next two chapters, so they'll be long ones. Personally, I'm looking forward to more Hinata/Naomi with Shino/Naomi and Ino/Naomi right behind. Doesn't mean I'm not excited for all members to interact with her.

Remember to let me know which member you would like to see?

One last thing, in my next AN I'll be releasing more information on that new Naruto story I told you about in Chapter 16. Someone asked if it'll be NaruSaku and to that I'll say... you'll have to read to find out, but romance isn't the main focus of that story. It's important and will be there, but it isn't the main focus. The story will be called 'Teen Cop' and will be, hopefully, my best story yet. I'm gonna start planning it soon.

Next Time: Chapter 18


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **I wanted to say thanks to everyone for the feedback last chapter. It really means a lot to me that people are enjoying this story so much. Well there's still a lot more to be told so the ride isn't ending any time soon. I finally have it planned now how Naruto is gonna tell Sakura about Kurama and when they get together. I'll give you a hint about when Naruto tells Sakura about Kurama:**

**It has to do with the enemy ninja Akio that orchestrated Naomi's attempted kidnapping.**

**You didn't think I was done with him, did you?**

**I'm also gonna start that other Naruto story 'Teen Cop' soon. As to the question of whether or not it'll be NaruSaku or not, I really don't know; but I hope you all give it a chance when I upload it. If it makes you feel better, Sakura will be an important character in the story and will be close to Naruto.**

**More Naomi/Rookie 9 interactions in this chapter.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 18-

Sakura surveyed the shelves of the party store, looking for decorations that best suited the giggling baby in her arms. She wanted to make her baby girl's birthday a memorable and special one. Even if Naomi was turning two, it would be the first birthday that they spent together as a family and Sakura wanted the baby to remember it. She wanted her to remember how much her family loved her and gave her a splendid birthday to show it. Sakura smiled down at her laughing daughter.

"I can't believe you're already two," Sakura was bewildered. She's heard this same sort of thing from her parents many times over the years when it became a special event. Whether she was turning a year older, or when she admitted that she got her first crush, or when she made a genin; they always said how they couldn't believe she was getting older and growing up. Sakura always laughed to herself, never understanding why they made a big deal out of almost everything that she did. But now that she had a child of her own, she understood. Sakura wanted to make a big deal out of this because it meant that her baby was growing up. That brought a smile to her face.

"My baby girl is growing up so fast."

Naomi giggled in her mother's arms, "Love Mommy." She laughed as she grabbed a bag of balloons and brought it to her mouth to bite on the plastic.

Sakura shook her head with a smile plastered on her lips as she took the bag from her lips. "No, Baby; you can't play with that." Naomi donned an annoyed face that looked too much like her Uncle Sasuke's. Sakura would've frowned but she looked too cute to be upset at. Sakura reached into her pouch to pull out a fresh bottle of milk. She always had some on hand now in case if Naomi needed them. This was one of those times. She held the bottle to Naomi's lips, the baby keeping her mouth closed in an attempt to get her mother annoyed. Naomi inherited Sakura's stubbornness with a dash of Naruto's idiocy thrown in there. This was the baby's way of getting her mother to give her back the bag that she wanted to play with.

Sakura nodded, "Hmm…" she hummed as she put the bottle away. "It's gonna be like that, huh?" she wasn't upset; quite the opposite actually. She thought that her daughter was even cuter than before by the way she was being so stubborn. She looked more and more like Sakura like that and the pinkette was happy about that, even if her daughter had her accursed forehead. Sakura brought Naomi closer to her face and blew her lips into her stomach, causing the birthday girl to start giggling; her pout now replaced with her usual smile. She smiled just as much as her dad did, Sakura noticed.

"Mommy doesn't want you to play with the bag because you can get hurt." If Naomi found some way to open the bag, she might put it over her head and suffocate. Sakura could already feel her heart beating faster in fear at the idea of her baby suffocating on a plastic bag. "She doesn't want you to get hurt." She pressed her lips to Naomi's cheek. "Mommy would be really upset if you got hurt." Her thoughts raced on back to yesterday and the fights that had happened to save her baby. Sakura's debt to Lee and Sasuke was so great that she wasn't sure she would ever be able to repay them for stepping up to save Naomi. Them and Kakashi-sensei as well, as he was the one that actually got Naomi away from that scum, Akio.

Sakura found herself wishing she killed him and the bitches for touching her baby.

Naomi seemed to understand what her mom was saying. "Love Mommy." Naomi pressed herself into Sakura's chest, giving her a hug as a way of saying sorry.

"It's okay, sweetie." Sakura hugged back. "It's your birthday, so Mommy's gonna make it special to show how much she loves you." She gave her daughter another peck on the cheek. "After Aunt Hinata comes back with some streamers, we'll go find Daddy and your uncles." Sakura kept her hold on her baby, picking back up the discarded bag of balloons and holding them a respectable distance away from Naomi; who was resting her head in her mommy's shoulder. Sakura figured it was about time for her nap. Despite being an oddball of energy, she was still young and needed her rest. Sakura was usually all for her baby taking her naps.

But not right now. It was Naomi's birthday and Sakura wanted her awake until the end.

Before Sakura could say something to get Naomi to wake back up, someone else did it for her. "If it isn't Mommy Forehead." Sakura groaned at the familiar voice. Why oh why did she have to run into Ino of all people? She would much rather take Akane or Akira over her. At least with them she can vent out her anger and obliterate them. With Ino, it was just gonna be another insult competition between the two. Sakura was all for insulting Ino, but the semi-innocent pair of ears that belonged to the baby that was now looking at the newly arrived Team Ten stopped her. Naomi was already developing a bad vocabulary because of her father and Sakura wanted no part in it.

Sakura calmed herself before she addressed the blonde girl standing just a few feet away from her, her two male teammates standing behind her; both looking like they would rather be somewhere else other than a party shop. Sakura didn't know why they were here and really didn't care.

"How're you doing, Pig?" Sakura smirked at the angered look on Ino's face. Amusement always found its way in Sakura when she caused Ino to get angry.

Naomi tugged on her mom's dress. "Mommy…" Sakura looked down to her daughter. Naomi looked confused at the three strangers. "Who that?" Sakura was surprised at the new words that came out of Naomi. She usually only said 'Mommy' or 'Daddy' and hardly anything else. After they saved her, she's been saying other words that they didn't think she knew. Sakura didn't know what the reason was, but she was happy that her baby was talking more. She loved her innocent voice.

"That's Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino… although you can call her Pig." Sakura almost laughed at the stunned look on Ino's face.

"Damn, Sakura! Why are you trying to corrupt her for?!"

Sakura gave Ino a warning look. "Watch the language around my girl. It's bad enough that her dad already corrupted her, I don't need you to do it either."

Ino looked confused at that one. "Sasuke-kun curses?"

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, annoyance clouding his usually lazy features. All day yesterday and all day today, it was the usual rant on how 'Sasuke-kun can't have a kid with Forehead' or 'Sakura couldn't have won Sasuke-kun's heart' and he was getting sick of hearing it. It was pretty obvious from the display yesterday that Naruto was Naomi's father and not Sasuke. But Shikamaru could understand where the confusion came from. Naomi did look like Sasuke and she called Sakura 'Mommy'. If Shikamaru wasn't so perceptive, he would've thought the same; but the display between Naruto, Sakura, and Naomi showed him what he needed to know about the paternity of Naomi.

Sakura sighed, "Sasuke is not her dad. Naruto is." Sakura found that a lot easier to say than she thought it would be. She's never had to tell anyone before that Naruto was Naomi's father and she never thought her first time would be to Ino of all people, although she should've seen that one coming. Ino was infatuated with Sasuke even more than she ever was and with the similarity in appearance between him and Naomi, on top of the fact that she was Naomi's chosen mother; it came as no surprise that Ino would be the first one that she had to tell about Naomi and her paternity.

Ino still didn't buy it, "How do I know you aren't lying to me?"

Sakura sighed. "Transform into Sasuke," Ino looked confused. "Just do it." Ino glared at Sakura's tone before she complied and did as she requested. Sakura looked to Naomi. "Look who it is, sweetie…"

Naomi looked away from Choji's bag of chips, seeing 'Sasuke' and erupting into fits of giggles. "Uncle Sasuke!" she held her arms out for 'Sasuke' to take her, but the sudden smoke made the baby look around in confusion when she saw that Sasuke wasn't there anymore. "Mommy? Where Uncle Sasuke?"

"He's with Daddy and Uncle Lee."

Ino was surprised. "Who would've thought that Forehead would have a baby with Naruto-baka?" Ino gave a smug smirk. "I'm just surprised I didn't pick up the signs of your pregnancy before. You and the idiot must've did a good job of hiding them." Once again, Ino was surprised when Sakura glared at her.

"Can you refrain from speaking badly about my daughter's father like that? And she isn't our 'real' child. Naruto found her abandoned in the woods and took her in. She chose me as her mom and Naruto as her dad and we love her like she is our own." The amount of parental protection that Sakura was emitting was enough to make the three members of Team Ten back up away from Sakura's wrath.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru mumbled. Sakura was already scary enough and the display that she put on yesterday on two of the three enemy ninja and with this aura of protection she was showing, she was even scarier. Shikamaru would dare put her on par with his mother when she was in a bad mood.

Ino was stunned. The last time she had seen Sakura, she couldn't even hear Naruto's name without getting annoyed and going on a rant about him. But now she's finding out that she decided to raise a kid with the idiot. Did that baby have some kind of power that made Sakura change her opinion on Naruto? Or did Sakura just become a parent on her own accord and still didn't care for Naruto that much? Based on the way that she defended Naruto just now, Ino would suspect that it was the former.

"Wow… That's actually kinda honorable what Naruto did." Ino managed to get out. She meant it. Someone as immature and brainless as Naruto taking it upon himself to get a baby out of the woods so she wouldn't be left alone was an impressive feet.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. It really was impressive of him to do so." Sakura felt the smile cross her face as she remembered Naruto telling her the story of how he found their baby in the first place. She was really glad that she did. Sakura didn't know what she would be doing right now if she didn't have this baby with her. She would probably still be fawning over Sasuke and trying to impress him. Sasuke was a close friend, but she was losing her feelings for him each day that passed. She was too focused now on protecting the bundle of joy that was laughing in her arms. She didn't know where her feelings were going, but guessed that they were changing to maternal love for Naomi.

Sakura looked behind her, her lips upturning into a small frown. 'I wonder why Hinata's taking so long.' She caught a quick glimpse of the Hyuga girl, who seemed to have her arms full with small bags of balloons, large ones that read 'Happy Birthday', and a bunch of candles and stuff. The poor girl looked ready to fall over. Sakura needed to go help her before she did just that. The only problem was that she was holding Naomi in her arms. Sakura cursed at her luck as she turned to the three members of Team Ten.

"Can you watch her a minute?" Sakura was trying not to let her biased feelings towards Ino get in the way of her decision. Even if she couldn't stand Ino, she needed someone to watch her daughter while she went to help the struggling Hinata carry the piles of party decorations. She handed over Naomi to Ino when the blonde girl shrugged in response to her answer. Sakura gave her baby a smile. "Mommy will be right back." And with that, Sakura went on ahead to help Hinata before she fell face first into the ground under all the weight she was holding.

Ino stared down at the baby that was in her arms, not sure now what to say or do. She originally came in here because she heard Sakura talking and thought that Sasuke might've been around her due to them being on the same team. Since he wasn't here, she was about to leave with her team; but then Sakura asked for her to watch her baby. Ino was genuinely surprised that Sakura asked for her to watch her adopted daughter and not one of the two boys behind her. She and Sakura weren't on the best of terms so Ino suspected she would be the last one that Sakura asked to help with her kid. Maybe it was because out of her three choices, she knew Ino the best. Yeah. She was gonna go with that.

Naomi reached her small arms over to where Choji was holding his bag of chips. "Mine." Ino had to admit, even if only to herself, that Sakura and Naruto had a really cute baby.

Choji shook his head a little too wildly, getting protective over his favorite food. "Sorry, but this is my food."

"Mine."

"No. Mine."

Shikamaru actually looked amused, but he managed to hide it well behind his lazy features. Even if he found this troublesome, and the possibility of Sakura seeing this and getting angry at Choji for being 'mean' to her daughter was troublesome; watching his best friend argue with an infant over a bag of chips was hilarious. Naomi was a cute kid, he could admit. If he wasn't so lazy, he might've wanted to hold her. But, in the end, laziness prevailed.

Naomi gave that Sasuke frown, upset that the boy wasn't sharing his yummy food. "Mine." She repeated for the third time, reaching as best she could over to where Choji was standing.

"Come on, Choji; you can't give her just a piece of one small chip?" They've all seen Mama Bear Sakura in action towards those that upset or threatened her baby and none of them, Ino included, wanted to handle the mother side of Sakura Haruno.

Choji reluctantly pulled out one chip, "But it's the last one…" he looked so damn sad as he stared at the chip. He fought every instinct he had as an Akimichi to put it to his lips and just finish the chip off and he would've by now if the sound of their impending doom hadn't reached their ears.

Naomi started to cry…

For Sakura.

"Mommy!" all three pairs of eyes widened and were looking around for any signs of Sakura. They couldn't see a trace of her. They didn't know if that was good or bad. "Mommy!" any longer and Sakura was either gonna hear or feel her daughter crying with some mom instinct or something.

"For Gods Sake, Choji; you can buy more chips but you can't buy yourself a second life!" Ino was frantic in trying to convince her stubborn teammate to give the baby the chip and to save him from an enraged motherly protective Sakura. They've seen her in that slaughter, yeah that display yesterday wasn't a fight on Sakura's side, and the damage she can provoke when pushed. Ino was being nice in saving Choji's life.

"Choji; I say this as your friend," Shikamaru looked serious as he pointed to the crying baby. "Give her that chip if you wanna keep living."

Choji almost cried when he held the chip in front of Naomi. The baby stopped crying to see what she wanted was in front of her and she took it almost greedily. She ate the chip in almost no time, going right back to her giggling and laughing self.

"Oh sure, laugh and laugh all you want. You're not the one with no chips!" Choji was crying hot exaggerated tears at the lost of his favorite food. Now he was gonna have to go and buy more.

"Calm down, Choji. Their just chips. You can always get more." Shikamaru was grateful now that their impending demise by Sakura Haruno was defused and gone. Now all he had to do was make sure nothing else happened that could cause Naomi to cry again. As much as he liked sleeping, he didn't want Sakura to put him into a permanent one for making her daughter cry.

"Besides," Ino held Naomi up so Choji could see her better. "You can't say no to this cute and adorable face." Choji shrugged his shoulders. He could admit she was cute. Ino studied Naomi over. "Hmmm, if she's making Naruto and Sakura get closer; then maybe she can make me and Sasuke-kun closer too!" Ino's sudden burst of happiness made Naomi happier too, mimicking Ino's delight.

"Nope." The sound of Sasuke's voice entered the fray, making the three members of Team Ten turn to see Sasuke, Naruto, and the other guy, Lee, standing by the entrance to the store; all three carrying a bunch of bags full of food. The sight of the food was enough to make Choji's mouth water.

Ino frowned. "Why?"

"I am entitled to my reasons and to keep them private." Sasuke answered, leaving no room for Ino to counter what he said. "And why do you guys have her? Where's Sakura?"

"Here." She said as she and Hinata walked away from the back of the store where the counter was. Sakura stopped and tensed, almost as if she was feeling the air around her.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked; worry working into his system as he saw Sakura look around.

"It's strange… I can't shake this feeling that something happened that's gonna make me angry when I find out." Sakura missed the looks of fear that Team Ten were throwing to each other. Sakura grinned. "Oh well, no time to dwindle on the ifs ands or buts. It's my baby's birthday today."

"Wait… It's her birthday?" Ino asked, Sakura confused at her sudden question but nodded anyway. "Can we come?" Ino knew that given enough time, Naomi's magic would work on her and Sasuke like it did for Naruto and Sakura. Choji was eyeing that food like if it would disappear if he didn't and Shikamaru was probably itching to nap somewhere where no one would find him.

"Why would I wanna go to this party?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because you can sleep somewhere where your mother won't be able to find you." And with that, Shikamaru was all for going to this party.

Sakura was skeptical but by the excited look on her daughter's face, she seemed to want Ino and her team there and Sakura couldn't say no to her baby. She shrugged.

"The more the merrier." Naruto shouted with excitement at the thought of more people celebrating his daughter's special day. He calmed down when Lee whispered to him that he had until the end of the day to give Sakura that necklace or else he was just gonna tell her. He did his best to remain calm, although he was sure Sasuke saw him. The Uchiha found out about the bet when they were getting food after Naruto screamed a little too loud to Lee. Needless to say, Sasuke told him to man up and just give it to her or return it.

"Naruto," he turned his head when he heard his name being called. "Can you take Naomi and go get her some birthday clothes? I want her to look special." She looked to the shy Hyuga next to her. "Can you go with him Hinata so he doesn't get anything with orange or ramen on it?" Hinata looked surprised at the idea of being left alone with Naruto. That died down when Sakura continued. "And just for laughing, Lee; you're going with him. Plus, you two obviously have something you have to work out."

Naruto was grateful Hinata was coming. As he traded the bags of food for Naomi with Ino, one thought crossed his mind. He was glad someone could hold Naomi while he pummeled the shit out of Lee for instigating the whole necklace thing on.

…

On the other side of the village, a man wearing a hood smirked as he exited the holding cell where his two allies once were, now dead in a humble mess. Revenge is what clouded his mind now and he would have it.

Akio would have his revenge on Kakashi and his team.

End of Chapter 18 of The Fox's Kit

We see Kiba and Shino make an entrance next time, along with possibly Neji and Tenten, which means more Naomi/Konoha 12 interaction.

Akio is gonna make a return to our heroes.

Hope you enjoyed the Naomi/Team Ten interaction. More to come with that.

We might see Naruto grow a pair next time and give Sakura that necklace.

Maybe some SasuHina will appear next time with NaruSaku. You'll have to read to find out.

Next Time: Chapter 19


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Hello all and welcome back to 'The Fox's Kit'. I am happy to share that I have another brilliant NaruSaku fic in mind. Just check the bottom of the chapter for more details on it and if you would like to see it at some point in the near future.**

**Any way, now we are gonna see Kiba and Shino make a debut in this chapter and along with Naruto possibly manning up and giving Sakura that necklace he bought with what money he had. We may also see Akio make a return at the end of this chapter. You're gonna have to read to find out.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. There's NaruSaku moments in here that you guys might like or even love.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 19-

Naruto groaned as he examined the shelves of the baby store that he, Lee, and Hinata had been requested to go to by Sakura. The reason why he was groaning being because he wasn't allowed to get anything orange or with ramen on it. That was totally unfair for him. Might as well have kicked him in the face and beat on his fallen body while you were at it. He was really tempted to grab something orange anyway and just have Naomi wear it when her mother wasn't around. But there were a few problems with that. Sakura hardly ever left Naomi's side and even if he somehow got Naomi to wear it without Sakura knowing, she'll probably know with her motherly instinct or something like that. Naruto might've liked to take risks, but not when the possibility of being on the receiving end of Sakura's anger was in there.

He glanced to Hinata looking between a blue and white shirt. Naruto never really noticed Hinata before all of this, but from what he was seeing now; she was a really cool and nice person. If Naruto knew she was like this, he would've made an effort to be her friend long ago. Aside from the way she seemed to get really red around him, he never knew anything about her and he was regretting that. Naruto saw the way Sasuke seemed to relax around her when they were back in the park watching Naomi practice her walking. Naruto's devious little mind was starting to spin as a light-bulb appeared over his head and he started grinning maliciously. Since Sasuke liked to make fun of him and Sakura, he was gonna make fun of him and Hinata now. Oh, revenge was really sweet.

His grin died down when he saw Lee with a baby-sized version of his jumpsuit. Looks like he didn't learn his lesson the last time he thought it would be funny to get one of those jumpsuits. Naruto didn't have anything against Lee's suit, but he wasn't gonna have his daughter walking around wearing an exact copy of it. Sakura would kill Lee for giving it to Naomi and Naruto for allowing Lee to buy it and not stopping him. Naruto wasn't gonna get killed because Lee was an idiot and had some obsession with that horrid jumpsuit.

"Lee!" his sudden yell caused Hinata to drop the shirts she was holding in shock and surprise at Naruto's yell. "Put it back! Put it back!" he yelled as he stomped over slowly to the smirking bushy-brow boy, who was dangling the jumpsuit almost mockingly at him. "I'm warning you. If that jumpsuit doesn't leave your hands in the next two seconds, I'm gonna kick your ass slowly and painfully before Sakura does it."

Lee smiled innocently. "Does this bother you, Naruto? Well... I guess I can put it down..." Naruto could very well guess where this was going. "If you give Sakura that necklace you bought."

"What's with you and trying to instigate me into giving her that necklace? Please, enlighten me."

Lee shrugged, "It'll just be a waste of money if you bought it to not do anything with it." That was only part of the truth. Lee wanted Naruto to give Sakura the necklace because he felt that that would be the final push to get Naruto and Sakura to stop tiptoeing around their feelings and to get together. Lee was pro Naruto/Sakura after seeing the way they interact with each other and the way they act as parents to Naomi. They already had the workings of being in a relationship that the only thing they're missing was that one push to admitting their feelings. Naruto had the item needed to seal the deal, but he was trying to hold back from using it to get with Sakura. Lee didn't know why he was so scared. It was obvious that Sakura liked him. Lee didn't know what Naruto's problem was, but he was gonna do everything he could to help get the pair to get together. They were his friends and he always helped his friends.

Naruto glared at him, "That's my problem then, not yours." A blush was slowly working its way onto Naruto's face at the thought of giving Sakura the necklace. He didn't know how she was going to react if he so much as dangled it in front of her face. She might get the wrong idea from him and assume he was using it as a way to get her to go out with him when it wasn't. He just wanted to say thank you to Sakura for agreeing to be the mother of his child. He had no ulterior motives other than that. It was just a show of gratitude. He just needed to figure out a way to give it to her without seeming desperate. He really liked Sakura, but he knew that some times she assumed the worst for something and went crazy.

Hinata was overhearing everything. 'Why is Naruto-kun giving Sakura-san a necklace?' she really wanted to know what was going on. She knew it probably wasn't any of her business and she really didn't have to know, but her feelings for Naruto were giving her a small spark of curiosity.

"Well as your friend, it's my problem to get you to do things that you don't want to do, but have to do." Lee grinned when Naruto's face fell. When he thought Naruto was still not gonna listen, Lee re-examined the jumpsuit in mock thought. "I wonder how Naomi will look in this." Hinata giggled at the steam coming out of Naruto's ears, his teeth snarled and growls escaping his mouth.

"Lee…" Naruto growled dangerously, warning Lee to stop right there before he walked into dangerous territory.

"Naruto I swear that you growl more than I do." The three genin turned to see Kiba and Shino standing at the edge of the entrance door. Naruto didn't know how this keeps happening to them. First they run into Team Ten and now they were running into the last two members of Team Eight. Naruto thought that they might as well grab Lee's team and make it a full house. They were probably gonna run into them anyway with the way things were going now.

"Shut up, Kiba." Naruto glared at him, redirecting his anger from Lee towards the dog boy that was smirking at him. "No one asked you."

Kiba was about to retort against Naruto before he saw Hinata seemingly hiding behind the clothes rack. "What you doing here with Idiot and Freaky Eyebrows, Hinata?" Naruto and Lee twitched at their nicknames from the Inuzuka, both raising their fists in the direction of the Inuzuka.

Hinata didn't expect to run into her teammates here. This was really the last place she expected people like Kiba and Shino to go to. But with the way Naruto was yelling at Lee every five seconds, Hinata shouldn't have been surprised that someone heard him. She just never expected it to be Kiba and Shino of all people in the village to be walking by and hear Naruto. Unless he was so loud that they heard him on the other side of the village. Hinata wouldn't put it past Naruto to be that loud.

"I-it's N-Naruto-kun's daughter's birthday t-today." Hinata explained to her teammates. Shino nodded while Kiba shrugged, not really caring. "We're j-just getting his d-daughter some clothes."

"Yeah, Kiba; is that a problem?" Naruto really couldn't stand Kiba's aggressiveness towards just about everything in life that he saw as weird or invalid to him. He's been on the receiving end of his taunts many times and the last thing he needed was him mocking his daughter in any way. He let loose that father aura that he hoped would warn Kiba before he said something stupid. Naruto didn't care if he wasn't as strong as Kiba or what ever, he would kick his ass for talking shit about his little girl. Plus, his beating would be light compared to Sakura, who enlisted a bunch of fear into the hearts of their classmates after her display the other day. No one was looking to be on the apposing side of Sakura's anger after that.

Kiba shrugged, "I don't know what you mean. I don't care that it's your daughter's birthday."

Naruto glared, taking his comment the wrong way. "What did you just say, dog-breath?"

"I said I don't care about your daughter's birthday. She's not even that cute."

"Kiba!" Naruto was held back by Lee, who seemed to be struggling to hold him back. "I swear to God, I am going to kill you for talking about my daughter. Don't be angry that my daughter is cuter than you and your dog combined!"

Kiba glared. "Naruto…"

"Kiba, it would be wise to not get in the way of an angry dad." Shino surprisingly stopped the bloodbath that might've happened if someone didn't say anything. "And I seem to recall you saying before that Naruto's kid is too cute to be his." Kiba glared at Shino. "Lying isn't something you use to your comrades. Enemies, yes; but not your allies."

Naruto silently flipped Shino off. He really wanted to beat the crap out of Kiba and now he stopped it. On the up side, at least he revealed that Kiba did think his daughter was cute and that he was just lying to piss him off. The bastard probably wanted to start a fight with him.

"No need to fight guys." Lee let Naruto go when he felt that the blonde wasn't gonna jump Kiba and attack him. "Naruto, everyone is waiting for you back home for Naomi's birthday. I know you want some of that food we picked up."

"Wait? Food?" Kiba looked to Naruto. "You got food?" Naruto slowly nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "Listen Naruto, did I ever tell you how cute your daughter is…"

Oh. Naruto knew now. Kiba wanted in on some free food. Naruto could feel the deviousness forming in his head.

"Does Kiba want some free food?" Naruto smirked when Kiba looked away, mumbling something that Naruto couldn't quite hear. "I might be willing to consider the offer… if he says I'm the most powerful ninja to ever grace the lands."

Kiba scoffed in amusement. "Fat chance."

"Did I mention there's beef jerky?"

"Naruto you are the most powerful ninja to ever grace the ninja nations." Kiba was drooling at the idea of having beef jerky. He didn't know how Naruto knew what his favorite food was, but didn't care. All he cared about was that he was getting himself some jerky.

"Pathetic." Shino sighed, disappointed that Kiba caved so quickly for just a lousy few pieces of jerky. He was wondering if he can come too. Not for the food, but to be with his peers.

"Shino…" the sunglasses-clad boy looked to Naruto. "Since we're inviting everyone, you wanna come too?" Shino was doing mental back flips, overjoyed that he wasn't being asked to stay behind. He was considered weird in the eyes of everyone just because he had control of bugs, but he was thrilled Naruto could see past that. "Just… make sure that no bugs end up near my daughter. Sakura'll kill me… and you." After her display yesterday, Shino can agree with him on that.

…

After agreeing to get the blue shirt and white shorts for Naomi, the now five genin all made their way to Naruto's house. Surprisingly, the interior of his house was all decorated and birthday-like. Naomi was sitting in her high-chair with Sasuke being ranted to by Sakura to make sure that the cake was perfect. To save time, the guys got a pre-made cake. Sasuke was being ranted to by Sakura to write Naomi's name on the cake perfectly. In other words, the way she wanted it to look like.

Shikamaru was talking to Choji and convincing him to not eat all of the food and to save some for somebody else. That would've been like talking to a brick wall, but Choji actually listened to Shikamaru when it came down to food… sometimes.

Ino was playing peek-a-boo with Naomi, the two-year-old giggling and clapping her hands in excitement.

After walking in, Sakura and Naruto left to take Naomi into the bedroom to change her clothes into the ones that Hinata had gotten.

"You know, if these clothes had the Uchiha insignia on them, she would be wearing clothes identical to Sasuke." Sakura pointed out, finishing buttoning Naomi's white shorts.

"Now they really can be twins." Naruto still didn't like how his daughter looked like Sasuke. The last thing he wanted his little girl to look like was an emo bastard. Naruto glanced to Sakura's smiling face, his eyes roaming down to her neck, almost like something seemed to be missing from there.

A necklace perhaps?

Damn Lee for getting his mind filled with a bunch of shit.

Sakura caught him staring at her, seeing where his eyes were staring. She thought he was looking at another area. "Naruto…" she growled softly. "Are you staring at my chest?" her tone warned him that if he didn't give a good excuse, he was screwed; regardless if it was Naomi's birthday or not.

Naruto paled, punching himself in the face mentally at being so damn clueless as to where he was staring. "No, no, no!" he quickly shook his hands to try and ward off the impending wrath of Sakura.

Sakura set Naomi down. "Go to your Uncle Sasuke, sweetie. Mommy needs to 'talk' with Daddy."

Naomi, not knowing what was going on, walked out of the bedroom and out into the living room where everyone else was standing, glancing inside. Sakura shut the door, jus barely hearing Kiba say that 'Naomi was gonna be a big sister.' Sakura was kicking his ass next.

Naruto heard it too and blushed. "S-Sakura, I can explain." Naruto backed away slowly.

"Explain…" she cracked her knuckles.

Now since he was already on her shit list, might as well do it now. He quickly yanked out the purchased piece of jewelry and held it as far as he could. "I was looking at your neck to see if this could fit." He spoke in a fast and hush tone, waiting for Sakura to hit him or something.

The sight of the piece of jewelry made Sakura gasp. She held her hand up towards her mouth. Naruto got her something? What for? It was Naomi's birthday, not hers.

"I just figured that you deserved something for being a fantastic mother. I really don't know if I would've gotten this far as a parent without you there by my side to support and help me."

Sakura was too stunned to speak.

The necklace was beautiful. A golden chain circled around the palm of Naruto's hand with a dangling 'S' and 'N' clipped on the front. It was just too gorgeous.

"The 'S' is the first letter in your name and the 'N' is the first letter in Naomi's name. I know you probably thought that it was for my name," he shrugged, showing he had no harm if she thought that and was wary.

"C-can you help tie it around my neck?" Sakura asked in what Naruto thought was her cutest voice ever. Her face was really red as she gave him a big smile. She wasn't mad? Naruto was gonna roll with that for what it was worth. Naruto did as he was told and wrapped the chain around her neck, the 'S' and 'N' dangling in the middle of her chest. "It's beautiful, Naruto. Thank you."

There goes her heart beating a million miles a minute when Naruto did something nice for her. Lately, it was only him that can get her to feel this way. Not even Sasuke could get her to blush anymore. She didn't even know it until right now, as Naruto finished tying the chain together around her neck; that she might actually like this idiot. He was a great friend, a great father, and a great guy all around. Nothing was a better combo then that.

"It's nothing. You deserve it. Naomi has the best mom in the world."

Sakura smiled. "Her daddy deserves something too." Sakura turned her body around, wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck and placing a long kiss on his whiskered cheek. "Her daddy has the chance to go out on a date with her mommy."

Naruto felt like the ramen gods were watching over him.

Before he could dumbly nod his head yes, there was a sound, a crash, and the screaming voice of Sasuke.

"You're fuckin' dead!"

End of Chapter 19 of The Fox's Kit

Cliffhanger.

I think that's the first one I had all story. Well, first big one anyway.

I gotta sleep to wake up on time to go to my college so I gotta wrap up here.

The synopsis of that new NaruSaku story is this:

-Road to Ninja World

-Menma

-Naruto and Sakura have are engaged and have a child

I don't wanna give too much away.

I'll soon upload the first chapter to that new NaruSaku, probably tomorrow after I get back from my college.

Next Time: Chapter 20


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **Yeah, I'm not gonna give you an excuse as to why I've been gone for awhile from this story. All I'm gonna say is that I'm back and that I am ready to continue this story. I've been getting my Naruto muse back and am happy to say it's not going away for a long time. I got more Naruto stuff in mind, even a Naruto childhood story that will be really fun for me to do and for you guys to read. If it helps you guys, it'll eventually become a NaruSaku.**

**Naruto is gonna kick some ass in this chapter and finally wrap up the Akio story arc. Kurama might even make a guest appearance in this chapter, or his chakra, what ever you wanna call it.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 20-

Sasuke watched with amusement as Kiba called out that Naomi was gonna be a big sister pretty soon, knowing full well that Sakura was gonna flip out on him when she and Naruto were done with whatever it was that they were doing in the seclusion of Naruto's bedroom. Sasuke saw Lee give a look of knowing towards the closed door, probably knowing what it was that was happening back there. Either Naruto or Sakura was gonna do something that Sasuke had no knowledge of or Lee was just a giant pervert. Sasuke wouldn't doubt the latter. Not one bit.

Sasuke watched Naomi take those small steps from the bedroom towards him, her legs wobbling and her mouth releasing giggles every second as she strolled over to him and threw her small arms around his leg, burying her face into his leg and releasing more giggles. Sasuke felt the upper corners of his lip twitching into a small smile. Sasuke never thought that he would love this baby as much as he did, thinking that he would be alone for his life until Itachi was dead and wouldn't ever get attached to anyone for anything. But there was something about the baby clutching him that drew him to her the day that he met her. He knew there was something familiar about her, but couldn't put his finger on it. He thought that maybe it was just their slight resemblance, but he knew that if it were that simple it wouldn't bother him as much as it was. This was gonna drive him crazy until he figured out what it was.

Sasuke ignored the stares that he felt on him as he picked the baby up and started cradling her. He never liked people staring at him and this was just serving to remind him why. The feeling of someone judging you silently didn't sit right with him. Before he wouldn't care, but now, as he held this baby, he didn't like how or what people might think about him and the child. Sasuke didn't know that what he was feeling was the instinct to protect. He had felt it before when he fought Ken and was feeling it again and didn't know about it. Sasuke would be questioning his personality change if he woulda known. He didn't know that he had changed as much as he did because of this baby that he was holding.

Sasuke watched her reach out to the cake that he had finished making sure was up to Sakura's expectations, wanting to have some before it was time. Sasuke didn't care if she had some now, but Sakura and Naruto would get pissed at him if he let Naomi have some of the cake before they were out here. They would hit him among other things if he let their baby have her first bite of her birthday cake before they were able to see. Sasuke shuddered at the images that crawled into his head of Naruto and Sakura attacking him.

Naomi frowned, "I want cake," she grumbled, making everyone crack a laugh at how cute she was acting. "Uncle Sasuke give me cake," she looked to the stoic Uchiha for her cake, growing her mother's typical annoyed expression whenever she got pissed at someone. It made Sasuke almost full-blown laugh, but it wasn't just him, Naruto, Sakura, and Lee right now. There was also Team 10 and Team 8 in the room too and Sasuke didn't feel comfortable showing his new self to people that hadn't seen him change. Naruto, Sakura, and Lee had seen him alter and become someone new, so it was easier for him to act all caring around them. With people that only knew him as the quiet genius, he didn't feel comfortable around them with his new actions.

"No," he replied to the child in as much of a humble tone as he would allow himself to possess around strangers. "Your parents will skin my hide if I let you have some." He didn't believe that he was actually arguing with a two-year old. He did his absolute best to block out the stares and smirks he felt on his back, most likely coming from the grinning and snickering Kiba. Sasuke mentally flipped him off, not outright saying it because of how angry Sakura got when they cursed around her baby. Sasuke would not be responsible for corrupting her vocabulary as much as Naruto had. He would be a complete hypocrite if he did.

"Never thought I would live to see the day where Sasuke Uchiha admits he's scared of something," Shikamaru yawned from his spot on Naruto's couch, finding the sofa to be as comfortable as a warm bed.

Sasuke gave him a small glare as Kiba added on to what Shikamaru said. "Sasuke has gone from badass to a little bitch." Sasuke would've growled, but he and Lee both grew tense as they saw into the future after hearing Kiba spout out the vile word. They could both see Sakura punching the door down before stomping over to Kiba and starting to strangle him for his lack of proper language around Naomi. That would lead to her coming after them for not stopping him and then it grew black, the fear of the pain they might feel blocking their vision.

"Kiba, you might not want to curse around Naomi," Lee warned. Before Kiba could respond to him, Lee elaborated and explained. "Sakura will, and this is not a threat but a promise, kick the crap out of you if you curse around Naomi." Memories of her smacking Naruto for using vulgar language around their baby flowed through Lee's head, increasing his paranoia of what will happen if Sakura found out what just happened. Lee felt bad about keeping her in the dark, but if it meant saving all their lives, he would suck it up.

Kiba gave a small scoff of disbelief. Sakura might be tough, but she couldn't hold a candle to him. His superiority died down when Shino blatantly reminded him, "I would advise you to not make Sakura angry, Kiba. Remember the incident yesterday?" his eyes widened, his skin paled, and whimpers escaping his lips as he thought of Sakura's strength the previous day and the scenario of her having a repeat of that on him. He went into a fetal position and started rocking back and forth on the floor with Akamaru looking confusingly over at his master, thinking of why he was acting like this.

Hinata nodded in support of Shino, "Sakura gets scary w-when her d-daughter is involved." Team 10 thought about the incident over at the store before and the fear they all felt at Sakura possibly attacking them for making Naomi cry. If they wouldn't have stopped her tears, they would've had their own when Sakura wailed on them for hurting her little princess. They all were close to following Kiba's lead and going into the fetal position.

"Mama Bear Sakura is frightening and should not be messed with." Sasuke knowingly and wisely warned the group of teens, Lee nodding in agreement with him. Sakura was not someone you want as your enemy, especially if her baby was involved. She loved the little girl in Sasuke's arms who was still reaching out for the cake more than life itself. Sakura had proven she would do anything for her baby and was not above destroying you if you so much as thought about hurting her child.

A knock on the door brought Sasuke out of his thoughts, setting Naomi on the ground away from the cake where her prying hands were still trying to get to as he went to see who was at the door. If anything, it was probably Kakashi with the daily check that the Hokage requested was done if Naruto wanted to keep watching and caring for Naomi. Sasuke didn't register anything else before he opened the door, the sight behind it causing his Sharingan to flare to life and an angry glare and scowl to appear on his face.

Akio stood behind the door, a smirk plastered on his scumbag face.

"Can I say hi to the birthday girl?" he asked like if Sasuke was actually gonna actually think about it and give him a legitimate answer, his hands dangled at his side as he awaited for the Uchiha to answer him.

Sasuke gave him an answer... a colorful answer...

"You're fuckin' dead!" Sasuke barked out as he tackled Akio out of the house, both falling down to the streets of Konoha in a large dust cloud. Sasuke jumped back up as he landed a couple feet back, his Sharingan blazing hatefully towards Akio; the bastard who had orchestrated his niece's kidnap the other day. Sasuke didn't know how he had escaped prison or even cared. He was just thrilled he had a new opportunity to kill this asshole for what he had done. Never mind the stares they were getting or the arrival of every other Genin that was in Naruto's apartment. Never mind Naomi calling for him while she was being held by Hinata. All Sasuke saw was the future bloodshed he was gonna unleash upon Akio.

Akio busted a gut when he started laughing at Sasuke's colorful vocabulary. "You're funny, kid. If only being funny were enough to stop me from killing you." Sasuke growled as Lee and Naruto took a stand next to him, both glaring hatefully towards the enemy ninja. "Blondie over there is the reason I'm back," he jabbed a finger in Naruto's direction, making all pairs of eyes fall on him, confused looks taking hold across the small group.

Naruto gave a disbelieving scoff, "Why me? I thought you wanted sensei?" Naruto didn't see any specific reason as to why this psycho would want him now. All Naruto had done to this guy was curse him out for taking his daughter. If anything, Naruto should be the one who was coming after him. Naruto had good reasoning for doing so.

Akio grinned, "That chakra you used..." Naruto felt nervous and frightened as he figured out what he was talking about. "That chakra you used when Roxas detonated... It interested me a lot and I wanna see it again." Naruto wasn't gonna used the chakra of the Kyuubi. Not with his daughter anywhere near him. Even if she wasn't near here, he wasn't gonna use the chakra with his friends around him. They'll ask and pester him about it and before he knew it, he would be back at square one with his loneliness like he was a couple weeks ago.

Naruto gave Akio a hardened glare before anyone could open their mouth as to what he was talking about. If they started asking questions, something was gonna go horribly wrong; even worse than things were right now. Naruto wasn't sure if they could take this guy but he was sure as hell gonna try. The numbers were in their favor.

At least it was before a smaller version of the barrier that Akio used yesterday circled at the psycho's feet before it spread ahead, trapping Naruto inside as it blocked any and all access from anyone on the outside. Sasuke and Lee were thrown on their backs as Sakura and the rest moved out the way before they were on the ground with the two boys.

Akio cracked his knuckles, "This will be over once I see that chakra. If I can see it, I'll be able to figure out what it is and use it for myself." He went through handseals at a rapid rate, "Earth Style: Earth Spikes Jutsu!" The ground beneath them started to shake, little spikes growing from the ground before they hovered in front of and around Akio. He smirked. "Try to dodge this," Unlike yesterday when there was a good chunk of he forest that they were able to use, Naruto was limited to about a few inches of battleground. He could only jump.

Naruto formed the cross-seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he poofed in a few clones to take the hits for him, pinning the clones to the wall of the barrier before they poofed away abruptly. Naruto reached into his pouch to pull out a kunai. "On my daughter's birthday, you decide to pull this shit on me," he laughed unemotionally before he and Akio entered a parry with Naruto using his kunai and Akio using an earth spike. "All I wanted to do today was sing happy birthday, feed my baby some cake, give her presents, and go out with her mother," that last one was added into his schedule when Sakura agreed to go out with him. "The last thing I wanted to do was get into a fight with the prick who kidnapped her yesterday." Naruto ducked under the spike before he was kneed quickly in the face, performing a back-spin in the air to land on his feet at the wall of the barrier.

Akio laughed, "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not!" he formed some more seals, Naruto noticing how his skin seemed to turn darker and how his muscles seemed to have grew. "I used my chakra to harden my skin. Nothing can break through this but a powerful jutsu and all you seem to have are those Shadow Clones of yours." Naruto felt the heat go to his cheeks. It wasn't a lie. All he did have besides the basics were Shadow Clones. He didn't have a powerful jutsu that could break that armor Akio had given himself.

Maybe not a jutsu... But he did chakra that could just fine...

He quickly shook his head. He couldn't use that here in front of not only his friends but the gathering crowd that decided his fight was a free show for them. He would be showing them that everything they said about him being a demon were true. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't. He'll think of something else. He refused to give up so easily.

Akio had noticed him zoning just a little, taking that as the initiative he needed to slip under the ground and grab Naruto's ankles. He quickly spun Naruto in the air before he slammed him into the ground. He would have to push this kid into the same life and death feeling that was there when Roxas died. It was what made the chakra come out in the first place yesterday. He just needed to do it again.

Sasuke growled as he watched Naruto get slammed into the ground, "This is fuckin' painful for me to watch. I can't do anything." He balled his fist so tight his nails were digging into his skin, blood flowing down his palms. Lee was in the same boat as him, watching in agony as he watched his friend get beat down into the ground like a rag doll. Team 10 were too much in shock to comprehend Naruto's beatdown fully while Team 8, sans Hinata, were looking for any openings in the barrier to get in and help him. Hinata was zoning out herself, watching her crush get the tar beaten out of him causing something in her to shutdown. She mechanically set Naomi to the ground when she started fussing, the baby running to the still form of her mother, who wouldn't take her eyes off the barrier.

Naomi tugged on Sakura's dress, "Mommy," she called up to the pinkette. "Daddy's getting hurt!" the two-year-old was letting tears fall down her face as she watched her adopted father get his head pressed to the ground, the bad man's foot on his face; pressing his heel into his skull. Naruto's screams of pain made her yell again. "Daddy!"

Sakura scooped her baby up, running a hand through her daughter's hair as she did her best to soothe her. "Daddy's gonna be okay. I promise, sweetie. Daddy is going to be okay." She was saying that for both her child and for herself, trying to find the strength needed to watch the father of her child get beaten like he was. Naruto had managed to get Akio off of him, ramming his left fist into his skull three times before kicking him into the wall of the barrier. After that, it was a rinse and repeat of before with Akio on top of Naruto.

Naruto heard his daughter cry, the sudden spark in his chest rising and giving him some new strength. He let out a loud roar as he threw Akio off of him, pinning him to the ground and letting the anger flow through him. He made her cry! He made Naomi cry! On her birthday! Naruto was not gonna stand that shit! After The Demon Brother incident and the kidnapping, he came up with a rule. It might've been a disturbing one and made him feel horrid, but his love for his daughter overtook him and erased all doubts in his mind.

No one... No one hurt his daughter in anyway and lived to tell about it...

He felt the chakra of Kyuubi take hold, providing the bloodlust that he needed, that he had to have, in order to do what was next. He let his nails turn to claws, he let his canines turn to fangs, he let the anger take hold as he rammed his forehead into Akio's shattering the shell of the armor, pieces of earth falling to the ground. Naruto threw him away, using his new speed to beat him around like a rag doll around the barrier, taking the hits of the earth spikes that Akio tried to throw at him like a man as he kicked him into the barrier wall, the force of the hit breaking the wall and letting Naruto and Akio get out.

Naruto landed on top of him, his hand raised as he snarled down at the piece of filth beneath him. He had his hand raised and was about to slash through and rip his throat out before he heard the melodic voice he couldn't imagine his life without.

"Daddy?"

Naruto turned to see his daughter and everyone else staring at him, waiting to see what he was gonna do. His friends seemed to understand where his anger came from, knowing that he had every right to kill the man beneath him. His daughter was looking at him with small innocent eyes, confused as to what he was doing right now. Naruto gave Sakura a look that screamed to cover Naomi's eyes, his love doing what he silently asked him to do. Naruto turned back to the beaten man beneath him, growling one more time before he heard a dark voice in his head tell him to do it. To slash the throat of the man beneath him.

And he did.

Naruto killed Akio with one slash of his claws to the throat.

End of Chapter 20 of The Fox's Kit

Gonna give you a little cliffhanger here.

We'll have Naruto and Sakura's date next time, so that'll be fun to do.

Naomi's birthday didn't go so well, did it?

Anything you guys wanna see on the date, let me know and I'll see if I can put it in.

Next Time: Chapter 21


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

AN: **A new chapter is here. This is the start NaruSaku date chapter that a lot of you wanna see. This is mainly a bunch of NaruSaku moments I wanted to write in for a long time now and am happy I can finally do so. I had to split this up into two parts because of an editing and computer problem. I had parts of the actual date written, but then lost them and since I'm angry about that, I figure I split it up and do a longer and better version of their date next time. I'll try to have it out over the weekend. It will definitely be out by next Monday, I swear on my life.****  
**

**Plus, I need you all to do me a favor and check out my other NaruSaku story 'Sage Naruto'. I would really appreciate the feedback for the story and if you guys liked this, then you'll like that story as well.**

**Also. I need you guys to answer a question for me. Check at the bottom to see what it is.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 21-

Naruto hadn't slept well the last few days. After the return of Akio on his daughter's birthday and Naruto being forced to end the man's life, he devoted what time he had to locking himself in his house and just reflecting on the traumatic event. He knew he didn't have a choice when it came to it; not when his baby girl was in danger, but he had felt the Kyuubi's chakra take hold of him and affect his actions. Naruto didn't like the feeling of malice that poured into his soul when he used the chakra of the fox locked inside of him. It made him feel disgusted with himself. It was these thoughts that plagued him the last three days.

His friends had asked him what the chakra was that he used, prompting Naruto to try and defuse the situation as quickly as he could. He was saved from answering by the timely arrival of Kakashi, who had gone into a barrage of questions about what happened when his eye landed on Akio's dead body. His small nod towards Naruto told him that he would make sure no one found out about his special chakra, to which Naruto was greatly appreciative for.

The past three days were just him sitting around not doing anything unless his baby needed him for something. He felt like a horrible dad for not giving his baby a great birthday party. All he had done was give her bad memories that she may or may not remember by getting into a fight in front of her, one that he probably wouldn't have been able to have won without the assistance of the fox. Naruto hadn't had the energy to do anything, just going into a barrage of thoughts about what he done. Him slicing Akio's neck was all he could think of, only being pulled out of his memory when he heard Naomi call for him; he would do what his baby wanted or needed him to do and then he would go right back to his memories of his actions.

He was sitting on the couch of his apartment right now, just staring blankly at the window that showed the night sky while Naomi sat on the floor beneath him playing with her toys. He wore a black T-shirt that looked messy with a pair of orange boxers, giving him the appearance of a lazy bum. His aura wasn't as bright as it usually was either. A sense of darkness that Sasuke used to have clouding around him while his usually lively blue eyes looked lost. Naruto looked like Shikamaru, but felt like Sasuke did way back when. He would occasionally look down to his daughter to see if she was okay before looking back to the wall. Today was like all the rest. Just him sitting home hoping the memory of what he did would go away. His hands still felt warm from the blood that sprayed him when he ended Akio, making him want to go over to his sink so he can cool and clean them off from the blood that wasn't there anymore.

He felt his baby tap his leg. He looked back down to see her looking up at him before she pulled herself up on the couch, Naruto having to give her a little helping hand to make sure she didn't fall.

Naomi looked to her dad, "Why is Daddy sad?" she asked, not having the slightest clue as to why her dad wasn't happy like he always was. Naruto was glad Sakura covered her eyes before he did what he did. He wouldn't be able to imagine his baby being scared of him. He would be way worse off than he was now.

Naruto wrapped an arm around her, pulling his adopted daughter close to him. He hated lying to her, but she wouldn't be able to understand what he did or why. "Daddy did something he's not happy about." Naruto wasn't sure how else he can put it. How can you try to tell your baby daughter that you killed someone for her safety? It wasn't as easy as one would think. Naruto wished he can have the answers he craved, knowing his mind can be at peace if he knew exactly what to do. He shouldn't even be all that upset in the first place. Aside from the fact he killed Akio for his daughter, he was a Shinobi. He signed up to one day do things that were eerily similar to what he did. Naruto knew this was the right way of thinking, but couldn't do it for some reason. A reason he has been trying to figure out for days.

Naomi blinked her raven colored eyes, "You did?" Naruto nodded, smiling slightly at how much more Naomi's been talking lately. He didn't know where the sudden speech was coming from, but welcomed it with open arms. He loved hearing his baby talk. Naomi pulled her head up to Naruto's cheek and kissed it. "Feel better?"

To be honest, Naruto did feel a little better. His daughter's cuteness was enough to make him crack a smile, despite the amount of pain and trauma he was feeling. Naruto pulled Naomi into a strong loving hug, stroking a few strands of her dark-colored hair with his fingers. He loved this little girl. He loved her more than he did himself and ramen. The best thing to ever happen to him was finding her in the forest. She changed everything for him and the people that were now a part of their little family. He and Sakura were now closer than they were before Naomi brought them together by their roles as mom and dad; Sasuke wasn't an asshole anymore, becoming a better person and an uncle because of his attachment to the little girl; Lee had become a very close friend for Naruto and his team. If it wasn't for Kakashi asking for Guy to come and watch Naomi while they finished The Wave Mission, they wouldn't have met Lee and became close. This little girl made everything better, for both Naruto and everyone else.

"I love you, Naomi. I love you so much." He told the baby in his arms, feeling tears come to the brink of his eyes. Naruto never thought he would ever have a baby, let alone one that would love him so much and one that he loved more than life. He always felt good around her. His daughter made him happy. Happier than anything could ever make him feel.

"I love Daddy," Naomi giggled, easying herself into her dad's chest as locks of her hair stuck to Naruto.

Naruto enjoyed the position him and his daughter was in. Him with his arms around her and Naomi laying in his chest. It was the perfect image for a loving father and daughter. The love and adoration that radiated off of the two would be enough to turn someone's frown and gloom personality upside down. Naruto kept his fingers intertwined in his baby's hair while she started to doze off in his chest, her small arms wrapped around her dad's torso. Naruto gave her a kiss on the top of the head, watching her back rise up and then lower as she took small deep breaths. Naruto knew she must be exhausted with all the drama around him the last few days. She deserved to sleep peacefully with nothing on her small head.

Naruto scooped his daughter in his arms and carried her over to her crib, setting her down gently as she started sucking on her thumb in her sleep, something Naruto had noticed she did when she first came into his life. He covered her with the blanket, giving her a kiss on the head as he left his baby to sleep. A knock at the door caused him to jump in surprise, not expecting anyone to come to his house at this time. It wasn't late, barely past seven, but he still wasn't expecting anyone to drop on by, having made it very clear with his posture days ago that he didn't want to be bothered. He cursed as he jogged to his room to put on a pair of sweatpants before he went to see who was at his door. He begrudgingly opened it, his eyes going over who was behind the door.

Sakura stood behind the door, a bag in her hand with what appeared to be clothes.

Naruto's eyes widened, stunned by her appearance. She looked beautiful. She had on a bright pink T-shirt with a black mini skirt and heels. Her long pink hair was done into a ponytail, two bangs dangling down in front of her emerald colored eyes, which were brought to life by the eyeliner she had on. Naruto could also see that she had on lip gloss, making him wish that something would make her kiss him with those pretty lips of hers. The necklace he gave her stood proudly over her chest for the whole world to see, the 'S'and 'N' seemingly glowing with the influence of the night sky behind her.

"Pretty..." was all Naruto could mutter as he moved out of the way for Sakura to come inside, not even questioning why she had another bag with her. All Naruto's eyes and mind can focus on now was the pink-haired beauty in front of him.

Sakura heard the comment, a small blush forming on her face. "Thanks. I'm glad you like it. It would suck if my date thought I was ugly," Sakura walked over to the crib where Naomi was laying down. Sakura smiled at the sight of her baby, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Hey sweetie." she cooed to the sleeping baby, running a finger down her face.

Naruto's brain was at a standstill, not sure if he registered what Sakura just said right. Did she just say he was her date? Sure she said that they would go out at some point, but he didn't expect for that to happen today. He would think at some point later on in the future, maybe a few weeks or such. He wasn't prepared for that to be today.

Sakura handed him the bag of clothes, "Put these on," she spent all day going from store to store to find which clothes would look best on Naruto. Sakura figured after being locked in his apartment moping for the past few days, they can have their date as a way to cheer his spirits up. Naruto shouldn't be moping because he did something that he had to do. If it wasn't him, it would've been Kakashi when he arrived and then Naruto would be upset that he didn't do more as a parent for his baby. Either way, Naruto would be acting like an emo that he just wasn't cut out to be.

Naruto wordlessly took the bag, looking at the contents inside before he disappeared into his room to change out of his messy pajamas into the clothes Sakura brought with her. As she waited for him, Sakura took a seat on his couch; folding one leg on top of the other as she took a quick glance around the house. She went over the basic idea of the night in her head. She and Naruto would start off with a casual dinner at a dumplings place she found one day, they would then go on a walk through the park and maybe catch a movie if there was still time left. Her parents were strict with her curfew and would kill her if she came even a minute late without a good explanation. Saying she was on a date would result in pulling Naruto into a barrage of warnings and questions that she didn't think he deserved to endure.

She thought about toning down her appearance just a little bit, her skirt looking to be a little bit too short; her ass just barely covered, but this was her first date too. She wanted to look as nice as she could and by Naruto's stunned reaction, she knew she made a good choice of attire. She twiddled her fingers around the necklace Naruto bought her, smiling at the beautiful gift he bought her. He was so sweet to have bought her something as beautiful as this. She loved the gift, but felt that there was something missing from it. She didn't know what it was or why she was thinking this, but she had that annoying nagging feeling in her chest about it. She shrugged it off. Naruto's necklace was beautiful. Sakura held the 'N' that stood for Naomi in her fingers.

After another minute, she heard Naruto start to exit his room. Sakura turned her head to see how he looked, smiling brightly when she fully took him in. Naruto looked really handsome in the black button up shirt that she found in a store, the blue pants that he was wearing going well with the shirt as well. He didn't do anything with his hair, not that she expected or wanted him to, but he did smell really good. He must've put on some cologne.

"Someone looks handsome," Sakura teased, standing up to meet with him. She smiled at the blush that came on his face, "We just need to wait for the babysitter I asked to come over." Naruto rose an eyebrow, probably thinking about who she asked to come over. His face donned realization when he seemed to guess. A knock came from the front door, Sakura walking over to answer it. Standing behind it was Sasuke. "Thanks for doing this, Sasuke."

Sasuke scoffed, "Not like I can be using my time for something else. It's not like I was planning on training or anything." He sarcastically said as he stepped into Naruto's apartment. Secretly, he was glad Sakura decided to do this. Naruto needed to get out of his funk. Sasuke had his peace and quiet for the last few days and now he was starting to miss the idiot's antics. Lee almost filled the void, but something about Naruto's stupidity was special to Sasuke.

Sakura missed the sarcasm, "Good thing I chose you then," she grabbed Naruto's hand when he finished throwing on the dress shoes Sakura had packed for him. "We'll be back before ten. Have fun with Naomi!" Sakura and Naruto walked out the apartment, leaving Sasuke with a sleeping baby with practically nothing to do.

Sasuke counted to ten before he started heading for Naruto's room, "Let's see if Naruto hides anything..."

End of Chapter 20 of The Fox's Kit

I'm sorry again that the date isn't here, but read my AN above if you didn't to find out why.

At least Naruto and Sakura think the other is attractive, right? :)

Lol. Gotta love Sasuke in this story. Probably my favorite character to write since he's so complex.

The question I have is do you guys wanna see the Chunin Exams word for word, or do you wanna see an original arc consisting of Kakashi, Guy, and Naomi? Let me know so I know what to plan for.

Sorry once again and pray this doesn't happen again and that I get over my annoyance soon.

Next Time: Chapter 22


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